Patagonia Toronto, in collaboration with @thesoflycrew presented me with the idea of printing one of their local chinook salmon due to an ongoing issue of anglers snagging these fish as they swim up the rivers to reach their spawning beds, cutting their bellies open, and then removing the roe to sell as bait. The carcass is then discarded along the river, in dumpsters and latrines. The argument is made that these fish are going to spawn and die anyway. Which sounds more like a poorly thought out excuse to abuse a system and a species. And so when asked if I would consider printing one of these victimized salmon in hopes of shining a spotlight onto the problem, I immediately agreed. I’ve always wanted to print a king salmon, and I’m pleased that this was my first.
I was pretty nervous and anxious about printing this fish due to all of its open wounds, exposed guts and excessive blood. But to convey what was taken from its lifeless body, I was convinced that we had to do it from a bottom perspective. Our process in approaching different angles is a bit more complicated and requires a lot more time. And to do that in front of an audience was intimidating but once we started, the room faded away and the fish was all we saw.
Reproduction prints of this or the other demo print will be available for purchase to fund the efforts of educating and fighting against the unethical killing of salmon for the illegal resale of its roe. Details to come.
Thank you @patagoniatoronto and @thesoflycrew for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this.