In The Belly Of The Whale

Julie Sperling’s latest work is “In The Belly Of The Whale”. She writes:

“In November 2018, a dead sperm whale washed up on an Indonesian shore. It had 5.9 kilograms of plastic waste in its stomach. Drinking cups, pop bottles, flip flops, plastic bags, and other assorted bits of plastic. This was not the first nor the most plastic-laden whale to wash up. For example, there was a whale that washed up in Spain with nearly 30 kilograms of plastic in its stomach. And then there were the 13 whales that washed up in Germany with things like a 13-metre long fishing net and a 70-centimetre piece of plastic from a car in their stomachs, among other things. Oh and let’s not forget the whale that died in Thailand with 80 plastic bags (and other plastic items) in its stomach. In comparison, 5.9 kilograms seems like child’s play, which is a crazy thing to say.”

“In The Belly Of The Whale” is a beautiful and terrible piece of work. Beautiful in its stark spareness, and terrible in the story that it tells. To me, the work looks like a skeleton, the rib cage of a great being whose meat has been scavenged from the bones and all that’s left is bones of plastic.

For close up shots of the work, and to read the rest of her blog post about it go to Julie’s blog.