The intention of this project is to illuminate and strengthen the connections between the grassroots movements for peace, anti-nuclear proliferation, wildlife protection, ecosystem recovery, and climate activism in the communities of the Hawaiian islands and beyond.
This multi-year project is a prayer for peace in the form of 1,000 ceramic whales. I work with stoneware and porcelain clays, utilizing both high and medium temperature firings. They are individually hand-sculpted, travel-size, easy to ship, small enough to hold in a hand. The whales will be accompanied by one of twelve poems or stories.
I have been creating ceramic whale sculpture for over seven years. It began as a way to support the growth of a new local non-profit dedicated to the clearing of tons of deadly fishing gear from wildlife sanctuaries in the remote northern Hawaiian islands. Over the years, I expanded this practice for the purpose of sharing proceeds with and information about conservation groups, as well as to contribute to fundraising efforts to replace research vessels lost in the Lahaina fires.
My fascination with whales began in a childhood alivened by the early days of the Save the Whales movement and stories from my father of mysterious encounters on overnight boating trips into an area that is now designated as part of the Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. He could never see the whales, only felt their surfacing tip the boat, hear their breath - fear was always followed by a kind of timeless peace.
Greenpeace was born in 1971, as a citizen intervention to stop a hydrogen bomb test on Amchitka Island off the coast of Alaska. During that journey they learned of the factory whaling ships causing the rapid extinction of numerous whale communities. Along with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Greenpeace and the Save the Whales movement have been catalysts to linking the extinction of fellow species with the industrial-led collapse of ecosystems. Here in Hawaii, the impact of this collapse has been experienced through the Lahaina Fires and the recent flooding of a vital food system regions on Oahu.
