Whale Fall
Borosilicate glass, Pacific Ocean water, steel2024
Whale Fall connects the vastness of the sea with the unbound limitlessness of the subconscious.
This sculptural work suggests a transformation of the oceans’ symbolic power in a time of environmental change, asking how we can continue to delight in the idea of the sea as a sublime and dreamlike space, when this environ is undergoing destructive change.
Taking the form of a large-scale chandelier-like sculpture, the work is composed of hundreds of hand-blown glass forms individually sealed with Pacific ocean water descending from an organic steel frame.
The form of the work falls from ceiling to floor referencing a “whale fall”. A whale fall occurs when a whale dies at sea, and as it slowly falls into the darkness of the ocean floor new ecosystems form and are sustained around its body. Through this lens, Kirk suggests falling can be a generative act of transformation in response to climate disaster.
Photography: image 1-4 Jessica Maurer, image 5 Sophie Willison