Mother Rising for the Southern Resident Orcas
Donation protected
We are Mother Rising, an environmental arts collective with roots in Quw'utsun territory on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. We believe in the power of art and storytelling to create transformation in the way we relate to the earth and all life around us.
Our most recent project Orca Song is an ode to the endangered Southern Resident Orcas we share this coast with. It began in the summer of 2018, as we watched as the mother orca Tahlequah lost her newborn baby and carried the body for 17 days before finally letting go. We were all bringing our own beautiful babies into the world, and the grief we witnessed cut so deep. We grieved together, and out of the grief came this project, this prayer. We began needle-felting the Southern Resident orca community out of wool, beginning with Tahlequah, using the ID books from the Center for Whale Research to sculpt each whale with their own particular fin shape and markings. After months of felting, meeting late at night after our flock of children were asleep to craft and dream, we hung the orcas in their matriarchal family groups in a giant mobile.
We call it the temple. It is our offering, to the waters, to the whales, to the salmon, to our children. It is a space for grief and wonder and reflection. It is a teacher of reciprocity, of gratitude that overflows into action.
One of the delightful mamas among us, Fienn River, sings and plays beautiful harp in the folk duo 'Juniper' with Natalia Huamali. Fienn was 7 months pregnant when Tahlequah lost her baby, and was moved to write a song for Tahlequah, from one mother to another. We spent a day on Saltspring Island this summer with our friend Jesse Thom of Glass Horse Lenswork, creating a music video for the song, featuring our orca temple, hung in cedar tree.
We are fundraising to support the project, the ongoing work of Mother Rising, and help us pay for the costs of the music video. Any funds raised that go beyond our initial goal will be donated to front line indigenous activists protecting their traditional territories from salmon farms and pipelines, both of which are issues deeply impacting this population of orcas.
These beings are endangered
and for them we rise.
Our most recent project Orca Song is an ode to the endangered Southern Resident Orcas we share this coast with. It began in the summer of 2018, as we watched as the mother orca Tahlequah lost her newborn baby and carried the body for 17 days before finally letting go. We were all bringing our own beautiful babies into the world, and the grief we witnessed cut so deep. We grieved together, and out of the grief came this project, this prayer. We began needle-felting the Southern Resident orca community out of wool, beginning with Tahlequah, using the ID books from the Center for Whale Research to sculpt each whale with their own particular fin shape and markings. After months of felting, meeting late at night after our flock of children were asleep to craft and dream, we hung the orcas in their matriarchal family groups in a giant mobile.
We call it the temple. It is our offering, to the waters, to the whales, to the salmon, to our children. It is a space for grief and wonder and reflection. It is a teacher of reciprocity, of gratitude that overflows into action.
One of the delightful mamas among us, Fienn River, sings and plays beautiful harp in the folk duo 'Juniper' with Natalia Huamali. Fienn was 7 months pregnant when Tahlequah lost her baby, and was moved to write a song for Tahlequah, from one mother to another. We spent a day on Saltspring Island this summer with our friend Jesse Thom of Glass Horse Lenswork, creating a music video for the song, featuring our orca temple, hung in cedar tree.
We are fundraising to support the project, the ongoing work of Mother Rising, and help us pay for the costs of the music video. Any funds raised that go beyond our initial goal will be donated to front line indigenous activists protecting their traditional territories from salmon farms and pipelines, both of which are issues deeply impacting this population of orcas.
These beings are endangered
and for them we rise.
Fundraising team: Mother Rising (3)
Hannah Sophia
Organizer
Raised $20 from 1 donation
Duncan, BC
Fienn River
Team member
Raised $100 from 1 donation
Raina Alyssa
Team member
