The Secret Life of Swimmers - A Temporary Public Art Project

The Secret Life of Swimmers is a temporary public art installation featuring photographs of individuals who swim at the Culver City Municipal Plunge. Conceived of by Los Angeles-based director and photographer Judy Starkman, the project is realized as a series of streetlight pole banners and an accompanying virtual gallery (www.thesecretlifeofswimmers.com) that includes background information on each of the participants as well as a video directed by Ms. Starkman. The streetlight pole banners were installed in downtown Culver City in July 2011 and relocated to Sepulveda Boulevard (at Culver Boulevard) shortly after Labor Day where they will reside for approximately the next two years.

A passionate swimmer herself, Judy Starkman conceived of the idea for the project one day in the locker room when a woman changed from her business suit into her bathing suit. It was the transformation into a swimmer of this high-powered, buttoned-down individual that became the inspiration for the project.

With over twenty individuals photographed in their swim gear and then in their "normal" clothing, the portraits feature a wide range of real life characters, including a UCLA English professor, a local chef, a truck driver, a firefighter, a young mother, a veterinarian, a teacher, and a physical trainer who lost a leg in an accident.

The Secret Life of Swimmers makes its contribution to Culver City’s Art in Public Places Program in that it focuses on a unique community of individuals who are passionate about swimming and it celebrates portraiture as a genre.