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Francine Fleischer took the photographs in The Water in Between in an exquisite and mysterious cenote, a deep natural well caused by the collapse of surface rock exposing the ground water beneath, and one once used by the Mayan civilization for human sacrifice. This exotic pool rimmed with draping vines is now a popular site for recreational swimming in today's Mexico. This curious contradiction of purpose is palpable in Fleischer's meditative and vibrant images of bathers taken 30 meters below the earth's surface; captured unstaged and in natural light, her subjects play out unexpected choreographies and narratives. Photographed over a period of ten years, The Water in Between is a study of human nature and interactions, as well as an unapologetic appreciation of the beauty of a great shaft of light rendering bodies in dark moving water, with chiaroscuro qualities reminiscent of Caravaggio and the painterly textures of Rubens.
About the author
Born in 1960 in New York, Francine Fleischer initially studied figurative painting and ballet, experiences which continue to inform her photographic exploration of the human figure, often within natural landscapes. Fleischer completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Purchase College, State University of New York; she later received a grant in media arts from New York University before working in the studios of Annie Leibovitz and Michel Comte. She has exhibited internationally, and her work is held in private and public collections including the Portland Museum of Art, and has been published in Condé Nast Traveller, M Le Magazine Du Monde and the Sunday Telegraph, among others.
