If you stand looking at whale bones in a museum, there’s always a story. How did they get here? What was their life like? How did they go from being huge living, breathing, feeling animals to bones labelled on a shelf? Did their family or pod grieve, like we do?
Most of what we know about whales starts with industrial whaling. The records kept and specimens collected during the era of industrial whaling have a dark history. But, long after death, they provide crucial information to scientists and researchers around the world.
In 2023 I began working with the Natural History Museum London’s Principal Curator of Mammals, Richard Sabin, as a visiting artist/researcher. Together with Richard’s incredible knowledge, I’ve been able to study bones that have been in museum records since records began.
My focus? How whale oil is still present on the bones in the Cetacea research collection today.
From the shelves, cupboards and drawers of the Natural History Museum’s Cetacea Research Collection, to coming to terms with life and loss, Here/after is a process: a scientific process, and a healing process.
Here/after has prelaunched on Kickstarter. Visit the project page to get notified when pre-orders are open!
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