Studying the distinct visual language of queer cinema, Nigerian filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist Peter Spanjer explores how intimacy escalates when the private and the public intertwine for short film SWIM. Identifying water and public space as recurring motifs within black queer narratives, the London-based artist traces the emerging connection between two boys at a swimming pool, reflecting their emotional responses through fragmented light and nuanced movement as conversation unfolds.
“As a continued exploration into video techniques, SWIM explores hydrophilia in queer cinema and literature, and the role public space plays in black queer love stories, forming a visual language built up of references from archive imagery.”
His debut narrative work, first installed at London’s Cob Gallery for the site-specific exhibition of the same name, SWIM was developed from research conducted during Spanjer’s residency as recipient of the Cob Award, expanding his ongoing interest in hydrophilia – the affinity for water – and the cinematic depth it gives way to. Referencing archive queer imagery and the work of Langston Hughes, Hilton Als, and Rinaldo Walcott, Spanjer seeks to reimagine the way we view the black body while delving into the semantics of intimacy – with water as a carrier of emotion, synonymous with sensuality.