BREACH #2

by Courtney M. Leonard, 2016

Can a culture persist when it separated from that which shapes it?
For many Indigenous coastal communities, whaling is a tradition woven into cultural identity, spirituality, and survival. Whales provide food, tools, and stories that connect generations to the ocean. Yet, the restrictions due to the danger of extinction, rooted in the colonial-driven overexploitation of whales, have severed access to these ancestral practices.
In BREACH #2 the artist reflects this by using ceramics to portray whale bones, which symbolizes both the fragility and inaccessibility of the Indigenous practices and knowledge.

Description:

A depiction of around 48 - 60 Sperm whale teeth,

Ceramics on Palette, 2016

Artist: Courtney M. Leonard

Courtney M. Leonard, 2018, Photo author unmentioned, NACF