In partnership with Messums Creative, Tessa Campbell Fraser: Whales – A Deeper Dialogue aims to unravel the interspecies communications between man and animal that are currently at the forefront of scientific research. Three monumental (5.2m, 4.6m and 3m respectively) sculptures of sperm whales will hang from the roof of the tithe barn. The open timbers and roofbeams of the barn are reminiscent of an upturned boat, carrying subliminal associations with the industrial scale whaling which reduced sperm whale numbers to critical levels in the 19th century, when their waxy spermaceti oil famously oiled the wheels of the Industrial Revolution. The sculptures offer a response to the environment whereby the viewer becomes immersed into an imaginative world of the whale whilst the surroundings reflect man’s increasing ecological impact on the world’s climate.
Ghost Fishing UK are proud to have provided over the last few years, some of the material that will form part of the sperm whale sculptures. Tessa Campbell Fraser and her husband Rory Bremner joined Ghost Fishing UK on our recent trip in May and saw firsthand the ghost net being removed and the sheer scale of the problem. Multiple parts of various ghost nets will be used, including the larger parts of these nets for the bodies of the sperm whales. On the recovery day, Tessa was also inspired by the tyres/ground rubbers of the recovered net and is planning to integrate those to finish help off the sculptures.
Check out Tessa’s Instagram reel below for more information on the project and her time with Ghost Fishing UK.
You can find out more about the exhibition via this link.