Pole Tay Pole

I'm working on a project right now about the Dundee whaling industry and polar exploration. It's a subject I hadn't known much about but I'm really enjoying researching it. I went to the McManus Gallery as a starting point as they have a lot of items relating to Dundee whaling and followed that up with a trip to the Discovery to find out more about Antarctic exploration.

It's been really interesting learning about an industry which was totally brutal to both man and whale, but also completely vital to Dundee's economy. We had a talk at the D'Arcy Thompson museum which was interesting to see how these polar voyages linked in with science and specimen collecting at the time.

One story in particular really stuck with me which was a case of four whaling boats being separated from their ship and having to row all the way to the nearest land which was about 300 miles. Only one man survived and he had to have a double amputation. So many of the stories I've been reading are about ridiculous endurance in the face of totally hellish conditions.

Doing this research has made me think about how I would cope in such conditions (I wouldn't) and also about the almost hidden role women had in the industry, getting on with life whilst their men were away at sea and not knowing whether they would return. There are a couple of mentions of captains' wives accompanying them on whaling voyages but as you might expect there were no female whalers (from Dundee anyway). I've been thinking about making an exhibit inspired by the cigar case displays in the D'Arcy Thompson museum putting me in as a female whaler as a sort of curiosity type thing...

I need to work on my concept and how to execute it but at the end of the project my class is putting on an exhibition at the D'Arcy Thompson museum called Pole Tay Pole which should be great! Really looking forward to seeing my work in the space and seeing what everyone else comes up with.