parangolés (river swimming), 2020-
I live near the river for years without knowing that to immerse myself in its cold time-space, over seasons, will cure my lifelong debilitating migraines. As the cold water triggers unforeseen receptors in my body, I can feel the workings of the endocannabinoid system. This biochemical network evolved in the Silurian/Devonian era - named for the geology beneath the source and strata of this Welsh river - when common ancestors of plants, fungi and animals emerged from the water before the earth’s continents divided.
In 1960s Brazil, Hélio Oiticia titled a series of wearable sculptures, activated by samba dancers, as Parangolés (1964-79) – from a Rio slang term for a happening, confusion or excitement among people.
Through winter to spring, I ask a group of women I swim with, including one Brazilian, to wear multi-coloured lengths of Welsh woollen flannel. These reimagined Parangolés trace moments of attraction and perturbation as we plunge into the river’s rhythms and encounter the modern-ancient non/human.
