M▽RG△N

So, I found a ripped version of my video on YouTube the other day with over 4 million views! It was some hair account’s #2 video. I read some of the comments, and there were so many lovely ones, and so many people wanting to know who the model was. So instead of flagging the video I asked them to add a credit, and replied to some of the nice comments. There were so many people to reply to that I got flagged for potential spam. I guess when they went to investigate they must have figured out the account was all stolen videos and deleted it. The whole account is gone now.

Exquisite & Hyperrealistic Aquatic Paintings by Samantha French

Brooklyn-based artist, Samantha French composes beautiful nostalgic oil paintings, which reflect summer nostalgia at its peak. Vibrant and poetic, French captures her subjects in the midst of aquatic transcendence as they peacefully surrender beneath the surface and gently rise back for air on the glittery surface. Reflecting on her childhood summers, she says:

“My current body of work is focused on swimmers underwater and above. Using vague yet consuming memories from my childhood summers spent immersed in the tepid lakes of northern Minnesota, I attempt to recreate the quiet tranquility of water and nature; of days spent sinking and floating, still and peaceful. These paintings are a link to my home and continual search for the feeling of the sun on my face and warm summer days at the lake. They are my escape, a subtle reprieve from the day-to-day. At the same time, I am drawn to an idealistic time before my own, where swim caps and wool swimsuits were commonplace. This combination of memory, observation and photography has allowed me to preserve the transitory qualities of water and remembrance.”

Find her work in her Etsy shop.

Meet Agnes Lloyd-Platt, the Winning Photographer of W’s The Shot