Whale Memorial installed and unveiled on South Georgia island

The sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia was once the epicentre of the modern whaling industry. Now, it stands as a powerful reminder of the devastating impact of what was then an essential global industry. Today, (21 November) part one of a Whale Memorial has been installed by the South Georgia Heritage Trust to ensure that the world will always remember how close we came to pushing whales to the brink of extinction.

Artist, Michael Visocchi RSA, created this major new Whale Memorial for the island following an international competition. The Memorial commemorates the 175,250 whales lost in South Georgia between 1905 and 1965, while celebrating the return of these majestic creatures to the island’s waters. It is the first permanent site-specific artwork on the island, a cultural milestone for South Georgia and the southern hemisphere.

Called Commensalis: The Spirit Tables of South Georgia, Visocchi’s Whale Memorial is a collection of seven monumental rust–hued circular tables made of weathering steel. Part one of the Whale Memorial, has now been installed on the site of the flensing plan, the heart of the industrial process at Grytviken whaling station. Known as The Key Table, it shows the numbers of whales that were processed at South Georgia and sets the context of the overall story of whale destruction.

The numbers of whales taken are represented by rivets salvaged directly from a whaling station on South Georgia, used during the whale hunting years to repair ships and oil tanks. They were carefully collected for this project with one single rivet representing 50 slaughtered whales.

Michael chose rivets for the Memorial as they are very similar in size and shape to the barnacles that naturally grow on the sides of whales. These barnacles do not cause

the whales any harm and the barnacles and whales live happily, side by side with one other, which helped him decide on the name ‘Commensalis’ derived from the biological term commensal, defining a biological relationship where two species benefit from one another and where neither species suffer. Michael’s Whale Memorial focuses on the commensal relationship between whales and the whale barnacle but on a deeper level, the need for humans to live side by side with nature.

On the installation of this remote and monumental artwork, Michael Visocchi said: ‘The whaling station at Grytviken is a unique and charged location and many visitors to the island are bewildered by this site.  

‘Since I began working on the Whale Memorial commission in 2020, I have made two site visits to South Georgia, in part to address unique geographical engineering challenges, but also to refine the story of the artwork. Seeing a huge pod of whales from the ship on on my first journey was timely and profound, and meeting with former whalers who worked here and hearing their stories has been a life-changing experience for me.’

In recent years, the island has been celebrated by Sir David Attenborough as an ecosystem in recovery, showing nature’s extraordinary ability to heal, with whales making an inspiring return to its now protected waters.

Alison Neil, CEO of the South Georgia Heritage Trust said: ‘We are delighted that part one of the Whale Memorial is now on South Georgia and are excited to see how visitors to the island react to it.

‘We hope The Key Table will act as a reminder that humanity can make or break fragile environments like South Georgia. Visitors to the island now delight in whale sightings from their cruise ships, not realising the darker past where humans almost wiped out whales in this location. It is a fitting memorial to an animal rather than a human, on an island where nature is in charge. As a charity that exists to help protect South Georgia’s natural environment and to preserve its cultural heritage, we hope this new Whale Memorial will provide important opportunities for a greater understanding of the island’s history as well as the possibilities for its future.’

The Whale Memorial has been made in Dundee, in collaboration with local fabricator MCE Engineering. Michael chose weathering steel as it reflects the site in which the sculpture will sit – a rust-hued steel industrial area in Grytviken Whaling Station where the whales were processed. MCE has assisted the team with the installation on South Georgia as has Stewart Garden, who has been structural engineer on the project since it began. SGHT are very grateful for the expertise and support they have given this project.

The project has also been made possible through the support of many generous individual donors, as well as corporate partners including RSK Falkland Islands Ltd, Albatros Expeditions, HX Expeditions, Poseidon Expeditions, and WSP.

The six Spirit Tables, part 2 of the Whale Memorial will be developed over time, represent the six different whale species that were hunted and processed at South Georgia, and which are now returning to the southern oceans: Blue Whale, Fin Whale, Southern Right Whale, Sei Whale, Sperm Whale and Humpback Whale. The creation of this memorial shows the power of art to confront often uncomfortable histories and offer space for reflection.

You can find out more about the Whale Memorial at whalememorial.org