Alexandra Castelli

APNEA - (ORIGIN Greek apnoia, ‘breathless’)
an ongoing series of oil paintings
locations: Ibiza, Southampton, Santa Margherita, Pine Plains

The title of the series refers to the act of holding one's breath when swimming underwater.

This series began by accident when my mother gave me a high definition digital camera for my birthday. Now, everybody in my family knows two things about me when it comes to cameras: one, that I am a terrible photographer, and two, that I have a son who positively detests having his picture taken. It was late spring and there were my kids bobbin in the pool and there was I with my new camera attempting to take the most banal of all photos: your own children enjoying some summer fun...
I took a few photos, but because of the delay in the digital snap, all of the images portrayed my son already below the surface where he dove repeatedly to seek refuge from my persistent lens. I kept at it, taking dozens, nay hundreds of pictures, to no avail. It was not until I dumped the whole lot into my laptop and started playing around with them that I got the idea for these paintings. I spent the next couple of summers hovering over pools, instructing anybody who was game on how deep to swim, face up please, don't blow up your checks, don't make too many bubbles, go by again...thank you then, to all of my obliging underwater models for their patience and perseverance. Love, Alex