The beautiful photos in this article are all by Gigi Cifali , who originally trained as a topographer, from a series called "Absence of Water." The images document the disused pools of UK and are featured in Polar inertia's newest issue.
Absence of Water
In the 30's London's outdoor lidos were at the peak of their popularity.Gradually tastes have changed, resulting in a drop in attendances, leaving the pools uneconomical to run. Many fell into decay and many were demolished. Only a handful of pools remain today as a symbol of a bygone era.
a Poem by Andriana Gifali as it was found in Gigi Cifali's official website
Without hard work from this site
I imagine movement in other dimensions
I feel coolness and roundness of nude bodies
touching themselves in the frank gesture of the game
I feel the sun, the water, the voices, the dive
I do not feel the time
hiding in the small wave
that is broken off the face of the curly-haired child
crying surprise and already wrapped
in the embrace of her mother's outstretched arms
I feel the fluidity of the water
melting with the excited screams of the adolescents
the fulfilled faces of the men afloat
the sensual stroke of the swimmer
the light speeches of warm summer
I myself, feel the need to take a swim!
Now I turn around and I try to reveal in the city this ancestral
aquifer's feeling
(I would love you to give me a swimming pool!)
thoughts of a citizen who is looking for his local swimming bath.
the sport, the meeting place, the community.........
behind this is the simple but magical contact with water.
This contact that rips away from the mayhem of the city evoking
a moment of pause, a sultry summer afternoon, another time,
another place.
Plunging into the amniotic fluids of secure liberty.
Here, every man need to take a dip.
