Green Capital 2015: The Bristol Whales

Majestically rising-up, somewhat unexpectedly in the middle of the forecourt of an industrial unit in St Philips, are the life-sized tail and nose of two whales.

These sculptures, created out of twisted willow and welded steel, will form the centrepiece of a dramatic Bristol 2015 art project, which is designed to draw attention to plastic waste in our oceans.

It’s estimated that globally eight million tonnes of litter is dumped in waterways each year and a mass of plastic waste the size of Europe is floating round the world’s oceans, causing incalculable damage to marine life and ultimately to ourselves.

Once installed in Millennium Square the wicker whales will appear to be diving in, and emerging out of a ‘sea’ of plastic waste, highlighting the impact we are having on our oceans.

The whales have been designed by Susannah Lipscombe from creative design company Cod Steaks. Her team of artists, more used to creating sets for Aardman Animations, have spent months building the two marine mammals out of willow from Somerset.

The sustainability of willow was important for this environmental project says Susannah: “It was vital to work with a product which would break down over a period of time and it can be reused.”

 “Willow is an incredibly strong material – once it tightens up and dries out it forms a really good supportive body,” she added.

10 artists have been working full-time creating the whale sculptures out of the bundles of willow delivered weekly.

“It’s a different material for us,” says Susannah. “We hadn’t worked in willow before…It’s really nice working with a material which is so simple to work with.”

In stark contrast to the sustainable willow the ‘sea’ in which the whales will swim has been created out of thousands of discarded plastic bottles which have been sourced from the Bristol 10k and the Bath half-marathon – a huge visual reminder of the impact plastic waste has on our environment.

If a world without whales is unimaginable then the project aims to inspire each of us to do something to save them.

“I’m really hoping that visitors will really understand a little bit more about us being the custodians of the oceans and the difference we can make if we just change our approach,” said Susannah.

The whales is one of six ‘exceptional’ projects supported by Arts Council England. South West area director Phil Gibby said it was a “playful and inviting way” to get people talking about “the sustainability of our oceans”.

You can visit The Bristol Whales sculpture on Millennium Square from 17 July, or get involved sooner by recording a virtual ‘message in a bottle’ about your hopes for the future of our oceans.

Visit http://bit.ly/bristolwhales and submit your personalised virtual bottle into a digital ocean for all to hear.

Plastic Statistics

In the UK 9% of total household waste is plastic = 2.4 million tonnes per year

20% of this is captured for recycling

This leaves 1.9m tonnes per annum which goes straight in the bin which breaks down into:

330k tonnes of plastic bottles which could be recycled

775k tonnes hard plastics (includes pots, tubs & trays which are recyclable + toys, household goods etc which are not so easily recycled)

890 tonnes plastic film (largely not recyclable from the domestic waste stream)