Baleejar is a life-sized sculpture of a female sperm whale’s fluke, crafted from a ghost trawling net recovered in the waters of the Azores. Created during a residency on Pico Island, it reflects the island’s deep and complex relationship with whales.
Until 1984, Pico was a major hub for whaling in the Azores, done by hand, in open boats, and passed down through generations. Today, those same waters are a global destination for whale watching. The sperm whale, once hunted, is now a symbol of protection and pride. The island’s identity remains rooted in its past, not in the violence, but in resilience, transformation, and connection to the sea.
This work reclaims the verb “to whale”. We say fishing to hunt fish, and whaling to kill whales. We don’t say deering to hunt deer. On land, verbs like to duck or to fox humanize animals. At sea, language too often places the violence on the animal itself. Whaling reduces the whale to its death.
Baleejar offers another meaning: what if to whale meant to witness a rising fluke, to sing across the ocean, to protect, to endure? What if to whale celebrated presence, not loss?
A discarded net, once used to extract life, is here unraveled and rewoven to express interconnection: between humans and the marine world, between language and care, past and present. Today, the people of Pico honor their heritage not through erasure, but by holding memory with clarity.
Baleejar asks: why not let to whale mean something beautiful?
