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Chasing Mermaids
How to photograph women of the sea
Mermaids drift through nautical folklore with fantastical tales of a sea creature, half woman, half fish. Sometimes the stories portray a creature with evil intent, luring sailors to their death in cold, briny deep. Other times the stories tell of a woman of compassion saving men from the salty brine.
In Ustka, a harbor town that once held a large fishing fleet on the Baltic Sea, the mermaid is a benevolent creature of hope and kindness. According to the legend, a mermaid came to the aid of an old woman whose son had been lost at sea. The mermaid, hearing the woman crying on a lonely quay, came to her aid. She brought fish to the old lady for food and kept watch for her missing son. Eventually, the son was found and returned home to his mother.
Ustka has now lost most of its fishing vessels as fishers recede in the advancing climate change. But it has not forgotten its fishing heritage and the legends of the mermaids. Sculpture and the town’s crest both honour the mermaid, fish in lap.
She is also the centerpiece of the annual town parade held in her honor. Women from around the region gather in Ustka, dress in…
