Photos: Hagen Hopkins.
Following the success of her first two books, Tinderbox and Things I Learned at Art School, artist, curator and author Megan Dunn, 49, was working on her third book about mermaids when she became enchanted.
“I was visiting London, sitting in a narrow café, telling one of my oldest writing friends about the problems I was having with my book, when Daryl Hannah sent me a message,” she says.
As in the Hollywood actor-turned-activist, who starred in Ron Howard’s 1984 mermaid blockbuster Splash.
“Daryl said it was funny I was reaching out for an interview. She’d just lost her voice, which is a huge part of the mermaid story,” explains Megan. “The idea of them being a fish out of water and needing to find their voice.”
Daryl’s generous messages of support and subsequent Zoom chat provided the impetus Megan needed to finish her book. The result is The Mermaid Chronicles, a midlife mer-moir that takes a deep dive into everything from mythology and motherhood, to marriage and grief.
Written over seven years, Megan’s also grateful to her partner Rich Crane, 47, and her daughter Fearne, nine, for their vigorous support.
“Rich has one great line for everything,” she says. “If I say to him, ‘I don’t think this bit is very good,’ he always says, ‘It’s a tour de force!’”
Buoyed by their encouragement, Megan dived back into her work.
“There was a real ripple effect, with one mermaid begetting another, but I also had to be patient when there were setbacks,” she admits. “Some people said it was too niche. However, I was determined to write this book because I was called to convey these messages from mermaids.”
The work was also given a boost when Megan was writer in residence at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington.
“I’m involved in the art world. During that residency, I made a show about mermaids at The Adam Art Gallery on campus,” she says. “I then wrote a story about it for The Guardian Australia. Mermaid Raina from Canada tweeted it to Daryl Hannah, which is how she made contact.”
Daryl was also the star of Megan’s original mermaid encounter.
“I first saw Splash in 1984 at the Odeon in Rotorua,” she recalls. “I was 10 and I loved her beautiful, bright orange fishy tail, which was maybe something subliminal to do with my own red hair? Then, afterwards I even bought a goldfish and called it Madison. From there, mermaids became emblazoned in my mind forever.”
Today, mermaid culture’s going from strength to strength, with millions of people following the water nymphs on social media.
“It’s a huge global movement filled with professional and recreational merfolk. People relate to the otherness of the mermaid,” tells Megan.
In the course of meeting and messaging a veritable shoal of inspiring mermaids, it was inevitable that Megan would purchase her own tail.
“I bought a Madison from FinFolk Productions, a tail-making business run by twin sisters,” she enthuses. “That was a big deal for me as I’m not a great swimmer. I’m really only adventurous in the privacy of my own mind, so I was far out of my comfort zone.”
However, many of the sea sirens Megan encountered were extraordinary.
“Some mermaids I interviewed eat fire or they fly planes,” she says. “They’re free divers, comfortable swimming 30 or 40 feet under the ocean to perform. I’m not bold enough to experience the world the way they do!”
Travelling far and wide for research, Megan attended the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade in New York. She stopped in Los Angeles, a wellspring of mermaid culture, and visited Hollywood special effects people, meeting many freelance mermaids as well. She even went to a conference in Copenhagen, home of The Little Mermaid and to a mermaid convention in Sydney.
“I found out so much more than I expected to,” she says. “Like how mermaids bestow wishes by being a force of magic in a world that for adults is really complicated. We see a lot of pain and things we can’t change, but mermaids are about goodness and fulfilment. They make our lives richer.”
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