Cetus, Belly of the Whale

A site-specific project for the Seven Bays of North Cornwall.

Cetus, Belly Of The Whale is a tale of plastic, magic, the Atlantic, weaving worlds, apples and changing states. Experimental moving image, sculpture and photography works documenting the creation of Cetus, an eight meter long sculpture of a Humpback Whale made to raise awareness of Ghost Gear. Lost, damanged and discarded fishing ropes and nets left to haunt the Oceans, the most harmful form of marine debris.

Cetus is woven with plastic fishing rope collected from the local Seven Bays in North Cornwall by Beach Guardian CIC and their volunteers.

More about the project and other works using plastic marine waste at Terra Attune.org

Walking The Whale, Trevone, Cornwall
2020
35mm film

The 31st of October is the beginning of Samhain and the start of winter, when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest.

On this date in 2020 artists Grace Emily Manning and Andrew Whittle traveled to Padstow in Cornwall to visit Beach Guardian and begin the weaving and enchantment of Cetus, with groups from Wadebridge School and the Beach Guardian community of volunteers.

Cetus untangles the problem of Plastic Pollution along the ancient British coastline of North Cornwall, exploring how landscape and humans can become interwoven through the magic of Art. Finding Cetus both on land in Trevone and written in the stars.

The constellation of Cetus, the sea monster, rose above us each night as we wove at Trevsiker Garden Centre in Padstow.

The Belly of The Whale, 2021
An experiment in Cornish Bladderwrack Bioplastic

Samhain Samhain,

Let the ritual begin.

We call our sacred sea ancestors to come in.

Samhain Samhain,

The tide is high the veils thin.

We honour all that has gone before as we pull the plastic in.

Samhain, Samhain,

All nature is our kin.

Our hearts reach cross the sea of time as the Great Wheel turns again.

Grace Emily Manning

Artist

Grace Emily Manning

Artist

Thames Estuary

North Cornwall

Glastonbury

Drawing

Painting

Moving Image

GEM Eco Studio

Cetus, Belly Of The Whale