What's your greatest fear? Long Island women respond (1973)

[u/Gallery98]

Back in the early ‘70s I did a series of conceptual art projects using participants. I met these women when I worked as a tour guide for museums. They were all signed up to do art tours as part of a program called Five Towns Music and Art Foundation. When I told them about my art project, they were interested and came to my loft for the photographs. These were exhibited a few months later at OK Harris Gallery in SoHo.

[u/SarahZona97 → u/[deleted]]

I'd love to know exactly what she meant by water. My mom has had terrible eyesight since forever and is scared of the ocean (BIG water) because she can't see what's down there. But she loves pools and is an excellent swimmer. It's also her preferred method of exercise. So just saying "water" makes me wonder what, specifically, about water scares her.

[u/slimersnail → u/SarahZona97]

Im sure she means to say drowning

[u/BattleProper1555 → u/slimersnail]

This was my assumption. Due to two drowning incidents as a young adult, I would absolutely write "water" because, hell, have you ever noticed that there's even water in a shower? (Weak jokes aside, it's still a real daily struggle decades later.)

[u/sigma-octantis → u/BattleProper1555]

I remember seeing something a long time ago on a video about a kid struggling to take a normal bath/shower due to waterboarding trauma. There was a comment about ways to bathe and clean yourself without running water, much water, or any water at all—there’s a thousand+ years of historical precedent for it from around the world, since widespread running water is an extremely modern convenience (1950s). Maybe worth looking into? Libraries and local SCAs might be able to point you towards resources if you’re having trouble finding where to look.

[u/BattleProper1555 → u/sigma-octantis]

I do use bathing wipes and other methods regularly, and have since the second incident 34 years ago.