The concept for this piece was created during a 7-day boat tour where Ben and a group of more than 50 artists, travelled into the Great Bear Rainforest, home to spirit bears, whales, wolves, grizzlies and many other creatures.
The piece itself shows a salmon trout head on the bottom, symbolized by the ovoid under the whale tail.
Along the journey, Ben was found himself very close to an interaction between a mother bear and her cub. Being that close to these animals made him realize that the humans he had previously drawn into this piece needed to be replaced by the two bears – the human form no longer had relevance to the story he wanted to tell.
This piece was created to bring awareness to Enbridge’s proposed northern gateway pipeline project along the inside passage of Northern B.C.’s waterway. It reminds us of all the creatures that could be impacted should there ever be an oil spill in these waters and forests. The salmon would be the first to be affected, with a ripple effect through the the surrounding ecosystem and devastating consequences to all it’s living inhabitants.
