Details
Three monumental sculptures of sperm whales, created by artist Tessa Campbell Fraser, will hang from the cathedral's Nave in this immersive art installation.
Art Installation
22nd January - 26th February 2025
Whales
In Partnership with Messums.orgDATE & TIME
22nd January - 26th February 2025Location
Winchester CathedralPrice
Admission to see the Whales is included with an annual pass. Additional events may incur a charge.With your annual pass you can experience this brand new exhibition where you’ll feel immersed to the depths of the ocean as Winchester Cathedral’s nave is transformed to home three whale sculptures. Don’t have an annual pass yet? You can buy one online here (and save £1pp) or simply purchase upon arrival to the cathedral at the Welcome Desk.
In this art installation, Campbell Fraser will seek to unravel the interspecies communications between man and animal that are currently at the forefront of scientific research. She will create three monumental (5.2m, 4.6m and 3m respectively) sculptures of sperm whales which will hang from the nave ceiling. The nave’s wooden roof beams were often compared to the timbers of an upside down ship or boat, carrying subliminal associations with the industrial scale whaling which reduced sperm whale numbers to critical levels in the 19th century, when their waxy spermaceti oil famously oiled the wheels of the Industrial Revolution. The sculptures offer a response to the environment whereby the viewer becomes immersed into an imaginative world of the whale whilst the surroundings reflect man’s increasing ecological impact on the world’s climate.
Explore the Whales events programme below
Wednesday 26th February, 7.00pm - 9.00pm (last entry 8.30pm)
More information
Whales Evening Opening
Your final opportunity to experience the Whales at Winchester Cathedral. Visit the cathedral after hours and say goodbye to this much-loved art installation.
Refreshments will be available to purchase on the evening. Invite your family and friends for a drink under the whales and enjoy this unique aquatic ambiance.
Free with your annual pass or £6pp upon arrival.
22nd January - 26th February 2025
Ocean Commotion interactive family trail
Free with your annual pass, collect your trail from the Welcome Desk and set sail for your adventure.
There are six characters dotted around the cathedral that need your help! As you journey around the cathedral, mark where they have been washed up on your map and complete various challenges to get them out of deep water, including…
-Steer a boat out of hurricane
-Explore a mermaid’s treasure chests
-Stop the waves getting to the beach
-Search for and rescue animals gone overboard
-Pose in the jaws of a whale
-Make a paper whale as a memento
Bringing Tessa Campbell Fraser’s, The Whales to Winchester Cathedral will connect the awe and wonder of God’s creation with a building expressing human longing for connection, human and divine. We will inevitably be led to reflect on our connection with creation and all God’s creatures and the call to live in harmony and justice. Whales are familiar yet mysterious and wonderfully ‘other’. The Whales at Winchester Cathedral will create a richly evocative and unforgettable experience for us all.The Very Revd Catherine Ogle Dean of Winchester
About the artist
Tessa Campbell Fraser
Tessa Campbell Fraser F.R.S.S. (born 1967)
Tessa Campbell Fraser is a British painter and sculptor based in Oxfordshire. Born in Edinburgh, she studied at Chelsea School of Art and afterwards established herself as one of the country’s leading animal artists. She has completed several major life-size, and larger than life, sculptures and paintings for clients including the late Queen Elizabeth II, the King of Bahrain, Knuthenborg Safari Park Denmark, William Grant & Son, the Household Cavalry and Sir Jackie Stewart. She has work in private collections around the world including Australia, South Africa, Monaco, and the USA, and has exhibited widely including at the Royal Academy Summer Shows, Sculpture at Goodwood, the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford and the Natural History Museum in London where she had a major solo show in 2004.
In 2001, she was elected an Associate Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors and became a Fellow of the Society in 2004.
Campbell Fraser’s work is informed by her interaction with nature and travels, notably Greenland and recently Dominica, inspiring a series of paintings and allegorical sculptures exploring the interspecies relationship between man and animal. Initially she Portrayed this in a group of sculptures for her Bishop and Bear series and laterally, her work has involved the interspecies communication with Whales.
She has been concerned with the effects of Climate Change for over twenty years and her sculptures offer a poignant and beautiful reflection on the symbiosis between man and animal, and how precarious this balance is for both as man encroaches more and more into the wild spaces. She is constantly in awe of how much we can learn from the natural world.
Notable Commissions
H.M. THE QUEEN
• Life plus 10% – Bronze of Estimate – Gold Cup Winner – Sandringham
• Two Bronze life-size Dorgis – Buckingham Palace
• Portrait in Landscape with Dogs – Sandringham
• Shirley Heights – Oil Painting of Derby Winner 1978
H.M. KING HAMBAD BIN ISA Al KHAlIFA OF BAHRAIN
• 24 life-size Bronze Sand Gazelles
H.R.H PRINCE FAHD SALMAN
• Generous – Oil Painting of Derby Winner 1991, Irish Derby Winner 1991, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes Winner 1991 and Dewhurst Stakes Winner 1991
WILLIAM GRANT & SON
• Life-size Bronze Stag for Head Office
KNUTHENBORG PUBLIC SAFARI PARK; BRONZE SCULPTURES:
• Three Life-size Hippos
• Seven Life-size Guinea Fowl
• Three Three-Quarter Life-size Elephants
THE HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY
• Sefton. Painting commissioned by the Household Cavalry to honour the Cavalry Black horse so badly injured in the IRA bombing in London Hyde Park in July 1982. 250 limited edition prints made of painting.
SIR JACKIE STEWART
• Three Bronze lifesize Highland Cows
• Two life size stags
• Three life size hippos
NATIONAL SCULPTURE COMPETITION ‘07
• Won major national competition for a commission of eight life-and-a-half size bronze figures
About the sponsor
University of Southampton, Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute (SMMI)
The Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute (SMMI) is a large community of ocean-facing experts from across the University of Southampton and beyond that works to address challenges around the natural ocean environment and human use of the seas. Working in partnership with external stakeholders, we generate new collaborations, knowledge and ideas for businesses, governments, and organisations to develop wide-ranging solutions to ocean challenges. In doing so, we educate the next generation of ocean leaders.
The SMMI is excited to support the Whales at Winchester event. The historic setting of Winchester Cathedral provides a dramatic setting to showcase the majesty of whales as creatures and art-form, but also to highlight the mysteries of the oceans and the challenges confronting our seas and coastlines.
Whales is sponsored by the Southampton Marine & Maritime Institute at the University of Southampton
