Photo Essay: A Swim Club Celebrates in Senegal

In the summer of 2013, a group of runners who were interested in swimming decided to get together to make the sport a little less intimidating and a lot more welcoming to newcomers. Taking the ethos behind the well-loved running group, Run Dem Crew, Nathaniel Cole and Peigh Asante formed Swim Dem Crew, and decided to enlist others who’d be interested in swimming together, to create a nourishing environment for Black and brown swimmers.

Over the years, the group has transformed lives – encouraging many would-be swimmers with a fear of the water to dive in. Through offering swimming lessons and opportunities to get stronger at the sport, its members have gone on to take part in triathlons and major swimming events in the U.K. For Cole and Asante, it’s not just about the physical act of swimming, but how the sport can empower those who do it, and increase self-confidence at the same time.

To mark ten years of Swim Dem Crew, and indeed, the friendship they’ve developed through the sport, Cole and Asante went to Senegal in September to take part in the Dakar-Gorée Swim — an annual open water event that takes place over a stretch of roughly 4.5 kilometers (just under 3 miles) in the Atlantic Ocean between Dakar and the historic island of Gorée. Held to commemorate the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade, the event mimics the route that enslaved people would try to swim in an attempt for freedom.

Swim Dem Crew recorded the trip and made a documentary, titled Furthest Point West, which they recently hosted a screening of in East London. Reflecting on the trip, Cole told the audience, “This was the first swim that we’ve done where we’re not the minority.” Asante added: “You’re swimming in waters where some people just didn’t make it.”

There are plans to release the documentary, directed by Israel Peters, early next year. In the meantime, Swim Dem has created a zine of photos that captures the monumental trip, taken by Ash Narod.

Photo by Ash Narod.

Photo by Ash Narod.

Photo by Ash Narod.

Photo by Ash Narod.

Photo by Ash Narod.

Photo by Ash Narod.

Photo by Ash Narod.

Photo by Ash Narod.