Italian artist Claudia Losi returned to work with Ikon following the presentation in 2007 of her Aria Mobile, a small globe embroidered with threads flowing in the direction of high altitude winds. While this delicate work could be held by a human hand, this project centred around a life-size whale, a dramatic shift in scale that relates not only to the physical object, but also to the epic concept of time evoked by a species that has survived for some 50 million years. Made in Italy in 2002, the whale has since travelled the world, becoming the catalyst for an extended collaborative process engaging thousands of people.

The project initially arose from Losi’s awareness that even the highest peaks around her home town of Piacenza were once covered by water in which whales swam, the traces of which are still evident today. This sense of the passing of time is elaborated in her practice through the manual processes used, including sewing, embroidery and ceramics, as well as extended collaborations in which the whale is used as a trigger for other people’s stories and memories. Prior to the exhibition in Birmingham, the artist worked with pupils at Erdington Hall Primary School to produce drawings of whales. These were then used by local residents, in a temporary tailor’s shop on Erdington High Street, as patterns to produce hundreds of small fabric whales that now provide company for the large creature in its temporary home.