In the last three years, I have swam inside crater lakes and sea-flooded calderas from Santorini in the Cyclades to Hachijo-jima in the Izu archipelago of Japan; around volcanic plugs and islets in Iceland and off of Stromboli, north of Sicily; in the acidic pale green waters of Ijen volcano, a working sulphur mine in East Java. These forbidden swims have been documented in photographs, videos and writing. First shown in the “Growing Gills” exhibition at Mimosa House in London, which brought together four female artists who are all keen swimmers and volcano afficionados, the hand-written folded book that I brought back from Japan is a diaristic account of 13 “volcanic swims” that form part of a growing collection.
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