Collecting Puddles

This project was about Aquaphobia: the irrational fear of open expanses of water. This was a research led project which began by looking into the fear of water broadly: simulated drownings, interviews with Lifegaurds and people with near drowning experience, aswell as visits to the sea, and under the Thames.

I started to look at helping the aquaphobic, and began searching for a way for the sufferer to control the open water around them (puddles) with the reasoning that to control the water was to render it less scary. I experimented with holding the water in bags, which allowed the phobic a mediating barrier whilst letting the liquid retain some of it's physicality. This then moved into the idea that through accumulation a phobic could control a large expanse of water and begin to conquer their fear. I experimented alot with puddles in bags and developed a Puddle Collection Kit in small and large sizes.