As part of my ongoing work around the Discovery Expedition of 1924-27 I have been thinking a lot about krill.  The Expedition was investigation the sustainability of the South Atlantic whale fishery (spoiler: it wasn’t sustainable) by looking at the whole ecology of the whale food chain/environment.  It was groundbreaking research for lots of reasons, but the importance of the biology of Antarctic Krill, Euphausia superba was a key finding.

Krill are the main food source for baleen whales and they have crept into my work before.  They featured in my Cetology Artist Book series (2017) and ReCover (2022), the embroidered commemorative tarpaulin harpoon cover made for the Harpoon Gun outside the Scott Polar Research Institute, but in both of these works the krill was a supporting element rather than the subject.

A transparent organza krill being held over a 1 cm grid

Going in for the Krill

I am currently in a sampling and experimental stage looking at ways to depict these usefully to help tell the Discovery Expedition story.

Embroidered krill surrounded by beaded brittle stars

My approach at this stage has included somewhat frivolous approaches, but it’s quite important to me that there is a degree of accuracy for the species I am portraying, but also that they are visually interesting. The transparent krill is made using a water-soluble stabiliser and “Going in for the Krill” is a little predictable, but fun!  The beaded krill (my encrusted crustacean!) was my first attempt at filling a shape like this with beads and I was pleased with how it looked.

Krill with pink beaded body on pink fabric

I’ve plenty of ideas moving forward.  Krill tend to occur in huge swarms and my next challenge is to work out how to depict this without having to sew hundreds individually!  So watch this space.

Sketches of krill in different sizes and position