Swimmers

‘As his subjects moved, the water distorted the images. The resulting photos in Swimmers, taken between 1978 and 1982, are lyrical, dreamlike dances, and also documents of American life.’ The New York Times

‘It feels as though the swimmers in the book were dropped in outer space and are figuring out their new weightless bodies for the first time.’ The Wall Street Journal

‘Sultan’s subjects, photographed in public pools around San Francisco, appear unaware of the camera, blurring the lines between the public and the private.’ The Financial Times

‘Picturesque and impressionistic, full of movement and gesture, Swimmers is Larry Sultan's most instinctive and effortless work. A creatively liberating moment that reveals as much, if not more, about the person behind the lens as it does about who is in front of it.’ The Guardian

‘The photographs in Swimmers are awash with colour and feel painterly rather than practical.’ Creative Review

 ‘Swimmers is flush with meaning and metaphor, a veritable Rorschach test of the imagination.’AnOther

‘There is something dreamlike about these silhouettes caught up in a strange, silent choreography.’ The Eye of Photography 

‘The lesson of Swimmers is insightful: sometimes there is value in not knowing what one is doing.’ American Suburb X

‘What we are actually seeing is an artist relearning how to see.’ Monopol

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