Here Be Whales at Hull Maritime Museum and Left Bank Leeds
5th February – 22nd April 2019, Hull
6th February 2019 – 27th March 2019, Leeds

This February, a new contemporary art exhibition opens in the Community Gallery at Hull Maritime Museum and Left Bank Leeds.

It brings together a selected group of national and international artists who explore and question the authenticity of whale representations considering whales’ damaged past, their threatened present and speculative futures.

Here Be Whales includes drawings, sculpture, collage, textile, video and writing and features the work of Helen Cann, Martha Cattell, Angela Cockayne, Filippa Dobson, Hondartza Fraga, Caroline Hack, Sophia Nicolov, Marina Rees and Kathy Prendergast. The wide range of mediums and artists reflect the myriad ways in which humans endeavour to understand cetaceans through cultural methods, and offers an intersection in current dialogues around the species and encourages debate and thinking about their futures.

Co-curator and artist Martha Cattell comments how: ‘Hull and the Maritime Museum offer the perfect host for such an exhibition, as it offers a chance to reflect on Hull’s past whaling history, which at its peak in the 1820s employed around 2000 people, with the museum’s collections holding many relics from this era, including the skeleton of a young bowhead whale. Whilst at the same time thinking about the current status of cetaceans, which are now often used as markers for the varied environmental threats facing ocean ecosystems.’

Curated by: Martha Cattell, Hondartza Fraga and Sophia Nicolov

The Exhibition is also running in the Porch Gallery, Left Bank Leeds

6th February 2019 – 27th March 2019

Cardigan Rd, Leeds, LS6 1LJ

Open 10 – 6pm every Wednesday

Events at Left Bank Leeds

Wednesday 27th March: Talking Arts: Here Be Whales, 6:00pm-7:30pm and Left Bank Cinema: The Whale Rider, 8pm

To read more about the exhibition see: https://herebewhales.wordpress.com

The exhibition is supported by White Rose College of Arts and Humanities (WRoCAH), the University of Leeds, the University of York, Left Bank Leeds, Hull Maritime Museum and East Street Arts.

Image © Filippa Dobson, Wings of Desire, 2010