FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT

Client : South Georgia Heritage Trust
Location : Grytviken, South Georgia
Status : Competition - Longlisted

South Georgia Heritage Trust launched an open call for a site-specific commission to be located on Grytviken the former whaling station of sub-Antarctic Island of South Georgia. The project was required to celebrate the whale through a reinterpretation of the former Flensing Plan (a large timber deck used to process the captured whales) and offer a message of hope for future generations by demonstrating how humankind can move from exploitation to conservation.

Our proposal imagines that the deck of the Flensing plan has been cut like a piece of flesh from the ground and bent upwards to form an arc. The timber deck is replaced with concrete pavers which are coloured based on the activities which took place in the sites past and present (whale processing and whale watching). The coloured pavers are positioned to create a gradient which provides the visitor with a visual representation of the way the site has changed over time.

People visiting the site can walk over the artworks surface immersing themselves in colour. When they move up the sloped edges, they are able to view the whaling station and the surrounding seas from above. The balustrade that runs around the edge of the artwork is engraved with text and images to allow the visitors to the station to better understand the site as well as the wider narrative of our changing relationship to the whale.