Issue 06: Meet magic, fantasy and inspiration!

Meet magic, fantasy and inspiration!

Hannah Mermaid

 It seems the earliest Mermaid appeared in Syria around 1000 BC when the goddess Atargatis dove into a lake to transform into a fish. The gods forbade her to renounce her great beauty, and so only her lower half became fish, while her upper body remained that of an beautiful woman. Mermaids are magical, feminine and rooted in mystery, free to roam the vastness of the sea, and their appeal is an everlasting one.

Hannah was always fascinated by them, and when at the age of 9, she saw the movie Splash, she felt compelled to take her obsession further and designed her very first own mermaid tail.

Today, she is known as Hannah Mermaid, model, photographer, designer, artist and environmental activist. Being a mermaid is no longer a dream but her full time occupation.

Born Hannah Fraser to a famous British rock musician dad and an Australian artist mother in Surrey (England), her family eventually left for L.A where she lived for 7 years until her mum took her and her sister to Australia after her parents’ separation.

Following high school, Hannah did a graphic design university course in Melbourne, but remained unfulfilled in her artistic expression. So she sold everything she owned, bought a camper eco-van and moved to the coastal town of Byron Bay, in NSW Australia, known for its impressive beaches and diving opportunities. There, she joined a community of free spirited, adventurous people like herself and found much inspiration from her surroundings.

She was still creating mermaid art such as greeting cards, posters, clothing prints and paintings and selling well to shops around Australia at that point. Then she started modelling, performing and costume designing as well as working as a photographer to create portfolios for young aspiring models.

Yet, despite living a creative, self sustaining lifestyle, something was still missing.

In 2002, Hannah got hired for an underwater photoshoot and then everything changed: all her artistic dreams converged in this unique experience.

By 2003, she was performing as a mermaid, probably the first of her kind as a freelance professional. Hannah had found her calling and while that path hasn’t been easy, she says it has been “endlessly rewarding”.

She moved to California in 2010, the ideal location for her unusual career, and from there is able to work on many projects: a yearly Mermaid retreat in Bali, a newly completed photo calendar, and of course, more fabulous mermaid tails! Years of experimentation have brought to life her vision and her tails today are blending buoyancy, flexibility and aquatic elegance to enable swift swimming, underwater acrobatics and graceful agility. They are true works of art and can be made to order.

THE MERMAID APPEAL

Hannah says she sees a form of feminism in the mermaid phenomenon, “…a really beautiful sign of feminine empowerment”. Even though she’s very sensual, there’s also this kind of innocence about her. In Hannah, we return to that joyful sensuality, where we’re not repressed by the patriarchy – “we’re free to be sensual, amazing, gorgeous beings”

Hannah aims to find “the balance of sensual empowerment without feeling the need to be overtly sexual”. It’s a fine line, and of course open to interpretation for each person’s perspective. “To some, I am tame, to others I am unashamedly ‘on show’. For myself, I am comfortable and proud of every image I have shared with the world. “

Today, mermaids are being resurrected in pop culture, with more women eager to join this unique subculture. As a pioneer, Hannah has some advice for would-be mermaids, in particular about the underwater experience, ethos and safety aspects:

1: Learn free diving techniques

2: Get scuba certified

3: Spend a lot of time in the ocean swimming around without a tail before you try it with one

4: Learn about the ocean animals so you can interact safely and with respect for their habitat

5: Dedicate yourself to the preservation and conservation of the ocean

6: Practice dance, yoga and meditation.

7: Create your own mermaid ‘pod’ so you can swim and train together, or attend a mermaid school or one of the retreats, workshops or private lessons or shoots that Hannah offers.

ARTIVISM

Once you get to explore the magic of the deep sea world, you get exposed to the many ordeals which threatens its existence…and ours.

It became evident to Hannah that she had to be involved in bringing attention to the ocean destruction and as a “Servant of the Sea”, had to fight fins and tail for its survival.

Hannah describes herself as a passionate environmentalist, and with opportunities to swim all over the world, she sees it as her duty to bring attention to the plea of the oceans and its inhabitants.

She hopes her images will highlight that symbiotic relationship we have with the aquatic world. As a mermaid, she is in a great position to emphasise the connection between humans and sea life and often speaks at events (including a TED talk) to relate her experiences swimming with great white sharks, humpback whales, seals, dolphins, turtles, manta rays, and other marine animals.

She has been working with many environmental organisations such as Sea Shepherd, and got involved with standing up against the Dolphin massacre in Taiji (Japan) in the field, as seen in The Cove, the film which broke this horrific story to the world.

She often collaborates with Shawn Heinrichs to support Blue Sphere Foundation, which is an organization to showcase inspiration over devastation, using art to illustrate the ways in which we can live in harmony with nature. Hannah also supports Oceania project,  Save Japan Dolphins, Mermaids for Sanctuaries, Mission of Mermaids, and Surfers for Cetaceans.

“If you are lucky enough to have a voice that people listen to, you’re obligated to do whatever you can to use that voice for positive change. I don’t really see it as a choice, more as a blessing and a gift to be able to stand up and have my voice heard.”

 “I feel incredibly lucky that I have a talent that allows me a voice to be able to speak for causes and issues that I feel strongly about. This is the part of my job that gives me the most satisfaction, where I feel like I can be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.”

“The ocean creatures are unique, magnificent, intelligent and imperative in our world’s ecosystem to keep everything balanced. Seeing these animals diminishing in number around the planet, getting sick from pollution, being slaughtered by humans and fished into extinction breaks my heart.”

“What I want to do is inspire radical creativity — that’s what’s needed here. Fantasy and imagination can be the source of solutions”, says Hannah Mermaid. And indeed, she has triggered a movement that is fantastic, radical and inspirational!