Swimming with Mermaids with Hugh Arnold’s ‘Agua Nacida’

Water comprises more than 60% of the human body – and covers more than 70% of the planet on which we live. Hence the title of Hugh Arnold’s collection of underwater photography Agua Nacida, the Spanish phrase for “water born.”

As Arnold stated in a recent London interview, “The moment you submerge yourself in water…the ego disappears and you touch the true essence of your nature. It’s almost like going back to the beginning, being reborn.”

While living on Ibiza, Arnold embarked upon a two-year creative journey to explore humanity’s relationship with the sea, which took him around the world: from Australia to Fiji, and on to Malta. In preparation for his photographic project, Arnold learned to scuba dive in Egypt and trained as a swimmer and a diver. In pursuit of his images, Arnold dealt with box jellyfish, sharks, Antarctic currents, and tropical storms before arriving at Gozo, an island off Malta celebrated for its unspoiled underwater terrain and an abundance of fish.

The resultant collection of large-scale, wall-sized photographs has been exhibited in European and North American galleries, as well as compiled in a luxurious 368-page hardcover published by Merrell. Inspired in part by the human life cycle, Agua Nacida explores the beauty of the human body in a symbolic transition from womb to womanhood. For mermaids, Arnold employed models Nika Lauraitis and Polina Barbasova whose graceful, lithe limbs mirror the underwater beauty that surrounds them.

Both playful and sensual, Arnold’s photographs capture the joie de vivre associated with a frolic in the water and the sense of oneness that results from water’s embrace of the human body. Equally impressive is Arnold’s ability to showcase a similar kind of infinitude that Alfonso Cuarón displayed in his cinematic triumph Gravity. The stunning underwater images reveal a world unto itself, as brilliantly beautiful as that which astronauts gaze upon in orbit.

Born in the United Kingdom and trained as an actor, Arnold was seduced by the light and the natural beauty of Australia, which led him to photography. As a celebrated commercial and fashion photographer, Arnold has shot campaigns for beauty companies such as L’Oreal, Max Factor, and Pantene, and his work has been featured in Vogue, Tatler and Condé Nast Traveller. Now focusing exclusively on fine art images, Arnold devoted two years to Agua Nacida and currently lives in France.

Chicago-native Lauraitis has been featured in campaigns for Hermès, Moschino, Bergdorf Goodman, and Abercrombie & Fitch, while the Norwegian model Barbasova was a finalist for “Norway’s Next Top Model.”

Alongside more than 175 of Arnold’s stunning underwater images, the oversized, glossy tome features text from Anne Morrow Lindbergh, author of Gift from the Sea, as well as Stella Thomas, the founder and president of Global Water Fund.

With Agua Nacida, Arnold invites us to explore an underwater world as resplendent as it is integral to life.