ABOUT THE PONDS
"It feels to me like a mystical pond in a quiet woodland that you've just stumbled across. That's protected from the outside world and shielded. It's almost mythical in that quality."
A very brief introduction to the ponds: situated within the huge green space of Hampstead Heath in north London, Kenwood Ladies' Pond was originally dug as a reservoir in the 18th century alongside several other ponds. Since 1926 it has been the preserve of female swimmers year-round, with temperatures ranging from lows of freezing in the winter to highs of 20 degrees in the summer. (Throughout my research temperatures ranged from 4 degrees to a final balmy high of 11. Also on the heath is a mens' pond, a mixed pond, and several ponds in which you are strongly discouraged from swimming.​
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"It does feel like a sanctuary in the middle of big city"
Alongside the ladies' pond itself is a changing block with cold showers and toilets, and two often-muddy meadows for changing and relaxing.Throughout my fieldwork a friendly fox frequented these meadows on the hunt for abandoned sandwiches.
There are myriad evocative written and multimedia representations of the ponds across the internet - it has a cult-like status in London and beyond. All the material used here is from my participants (and myself).
"In the pond, you know, you could be sitting next to the Heron or a few ducks, with the shadow of the trees and the dappled light feeling strange, murky things brushing up against your legs."
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Photography is forbidden at the ponds, and I followed this rule bar one or two transgressions. Any photography and video included here is from before entrance to the ponds itself, so all further representations are in other media. On this page: a lino print of the view from the water looking back by a near-participant Gemma Curtis who unfortunately got COVID at a crucial moment (a theme among participants). One is a phone notes drawing of the feeling of the ponds when you're within it by a participant. One is a mug made by me after a session of participant observation.
