Paul Halse, Aquaphobia (Student (2018))

Almost every individual is scared of something. It is a deep, underlying emotion that takes hold and completely terrifies them to the point where they are skittish every time they are confronted by it. They are swallowed in their own fear, invoking that sense of drowning. Going round and round, spinning in a never ending whirlpool, unable to escape; even when it’s only within their own mind. They are suffocating crying for help, but no one is there. All dark and alone. A living nightmare, they are constantly faced with images of traumatic events that act as triggers for a past that they wish to relive no longer. It takes courage to escape this vicious cycle, but even the strongest fall, immersing themselves in a deep, black pool. There is no escaping from the monsters that live down below, coiling around you they drag you down, filling your lungs with water. You thrash around but that just makes you sink harder and faster, never to return, never to see the surface again.

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