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Three people lean against the edge of a pool, their backs to the camera. They face a large, colourful mural of aquatic creatures and red fish.

Arthur Drooker's photographs of an American mermaid convention, Merfest

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Date
22 January 2015

Cool Hunting used to be a place of current art and design, expensive watches, exclusive booze bottles, leather mountaineering accessories and cars you will never be able to afford. Nowadays it’s a place of exotic content nestled snugly in a brand new redesign that’s pretty ahead of the game. Recently it’s been championing the work of an American photographer called Arthur Drooker, largely focusing on his series entitled Conventional Wisdom. Arthur is something of a curiosity-lover, and his wild, weird series are the visual result of him being unable to resist the pull of “Bronies,” ventriloquists, clowns, re-enactors and taxidermists.

In a recent series entitled Merfest, Arthur travelled to Carolina where a bunch of people gather three times a week to swim, dressed as mermaids, in a public swimming pool. These are some of the weirdest, most beautiful documentary photos – giving you a glimpse into a very happy world that a few minutes ago you didn’t even know existed. Read more about this fantastic story over on Cool Hunting.

A person with a beard and long hair sits on the edge of a swimming pool, wearing a yellow mermaid tail with blue circles. They wear a colourful headpiece and lean back on one arm against the blue water and lane markers.
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Arthur Drooker: Conventional Wisdom – Merfest for Cool Hunting

Two people kiss in a swimming pool while surrounded by guests. One person wears a white dress and a mermaid tail, while the other wears a black waistcoat.
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Arthur Drooker: Conventional Wisdom – Merfest for Cool Hunting

Two people help a person in a detailed brown mermaid tail onto the edge of a swimming pool. In the background, other people in colourful mermaid tails sit in the water.
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Arthur Drooker: Conventional Wisdom – Merfest for Cool Hunting

Three people lean over the edge of a swimming pool, looking down at several mermaids swimming in the blue water. The people are shirtless and have various tattoos on their arms and backs.
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Arthur Drooker: Conventional Wisdom – Merfest for Cool Hunting

Two photos of people wearing mermaid tails in swimming pools. In the first, a purple tail splashes into the water. In the second, a person with a gold tail floats upside down next to a pool edge marked “12FT 6 IN”.
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Arthur Drooker: Conventional Wisdom – Merfest for Cool Hunting

A diptych of two images. On the left, a row of colourful mermaid tails in shades of blue, green and orange float in water. On the right, a person wearing a detailed mermaid costume and orange hair sits against a white tiled wall next to a lifebuoy.
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Arthur Drooker: Conventional Wisdom – Merfest for Cool Hunting

A person dressed as a merman lies on the edge of a swimming pool. They wear a gold headpiece, gold wrist cuffs, and a green leaf collar, with a large blue and gold tail curving upwards behind them.
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Arthur Drooker: Conventional Wisdom – Merfest for Cool Hunting

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About the Author

Liv Siddall

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Liv joined It’s Nice That as an intern in 2011 and worked across online, print and events, and was latterly Features Editor before leaving in May 2015.

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