With
each year Japan, Norway, and Iceland increase their self-made quotas
to hunt whales. The 2008 whaling quotas from Japan, Norway, and Iceland
total close to 2,400 whales.
In
3 years, over 5,500 whales will have been slaughtered. According to
most recent estimates, since 1986 when the International Whaling Commission
(IWC) moratorium on whaling, Japan, Norway, and Iceland have slaughtered
over 30,000 whales*.
The
Origami
Whales Project began in Spring 2004 in response
to the urgent need to raise awareness concerning the ever-increasing
threat by the whaling nations towards the return of IWC sanctioned
commercial whaling.
Through
global public participation, a "Curtain of 30,000
Origami Whales" was completed in May 2007 as a
powerful visual statement and memorial for the lives of whales killed
in the past 21 years.
The curtain was first exhibited in late May 2007 at the Alaska
Center for the Performing Arts
(PAC) during the 59th annual IWC Meetings. With a height of 5 feet,
and a linear dimension of over 400 feet in length, the curtain was
hung within an installation 17 feet wide by 50 feet long as a simple
maze of aisles of origami whales, each representing a whale killed
in 21 years since they were supposed to be protected. At the PAC on
the 30th of May, "Whales
Need US"
(a coalition of 20 animal welfare organizations) hosted a special
reception inviting all IWC delegates to attend. Numerous attendees
walked through the curtain. The story of the exhibit was screened
on KTUU
News
(the NBC television station in Anchorage) and published in the Anchorage
Daily News.
The “Curtain of 30,000 Origami Whales was also exhibited in
a 20 by 40 foot space at the Alaska
Oceans Festival
(Anchorage, AK) on June 2, 2007 where hundreds of visitors walked
through to experience this beautiful memorial to whales.
In February 2008, the “Curtain of 30,000 Origami Whales”
was exhibited in a 20 by 60 foot space at Whale Day on Maui where
over a thousand visitors walked through, expressing awe and gratitude
for the exhibit; some were moved to tears as they realized the number
of whales lost to whaling. A video of the exhibit has also been posted
online by Maui-based NKO.org.
Thousands of children and adults of all ages, schools, organizations,
individuals, from all nations contributed origami whales to raise
awareness to the numbers that have been killed, as well as a call
to action with the need to halt further slaughter of these amazing
Beings.
Currently, sponsorship is being sought and donations
accepted to fund future exhibits of the “Curtain of 30,000 Origami
Whales” to further raise awareness about the issue of commercial
whaling.
