Katrina Stamatopoulos "True in my fictional world"

"Finding cupid"

Developed through a collective process of mythology, fiction and popular culture, mermaids have become integrated in our understanding of the sea through stories, belief, hope and imagination. True in my fictional world defies the conflict of rational and imagined through exploring water environments. With the impossibility of deciphering what lies in the depths, the liquid world and its real or dreamt inhabitants can be sources of every fear and fascination. These photographs made are with characters I collect; I collect mermaid objects on Ebay. Whether they have been previously used as ornamental figurines, fishing lures or fish tank bubblers, I interpret these objects to find new fictional homes for them. Having little or no awareness of the mermaids origin and history, I am attempting to re-enact a lost past, isolating each mermaid in its own imaginary terrain.