Hanli Prinsloo is a freediver, speaker, writer and documentary filmmaker, and the founder of the I AM WATER Foundation, the beneficiary of this auction. Raised on a horse farm near Pretoria, hours from the nearest ocean, she went on to break eleven South African freediving records and was the first South African to hold all six national records at once. Her documentary White As Blood (2010) charted a personal journey of coming home, and the I AM WATER Trust, founded the same year, has since introduced thousands of young people from under-served coastal communities to the ocean. She was named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2014 and co-founded I AM WATER Ocean Travel and the sustainable freediving brand Agulhas.

When I met Hanli at my shellshocked sale in 2025, she approached me to tell me how much she loves my work but Hanli actually I AM YOUR BIG FAN! This auction proves it! i am so totally thrilled that Hanli created the I AM WATER foundation because it is the perfect foundation for Shellegance to send its charitable donations; its local, it connects kids from disadvantaged communities to the ocean, as well as spreads awareness of the magic and fragility of our oceans so that we can better protect them. This beautiful shell evokes the feeling of being under the Cape Kelp forest a place Hanli knows very well from all her diving.

Dimensions: 29 x 20cm
Every shell is wired by George Magaso, ready to hang directly on the wall from a nail.

@hanliprinsloo
https://www.iamwaterfoundation.org/