Art for Sea to Sky: Dive

Dive – 36”x48” – 2021 – acrylic on canvas

Determination. Perseverance. Peace. It has been 9 years since I saw my first humpback/Ḵwenis (right here in Atl’ka7tsem/Howe Sound). Standing on the rocks at the Cape watching her swim along the shoreline it was like a dream. Humpbacks were just starting to return to Atl'ka7tsem- up until the 20th century they were hunted to near extinction for their oil, meat and baleen. 5,000 individuals remained worldwide when a near global ban on hunting led to a remarkable recovery.

Today there are approximately 80,000 of these amazing mammals and numbers continue to increase. But the species has a long way to go as they face increasing threats from pollution, maritime noise, entanglement in fishing gear and unstable food sources. The road ahead is long but they have come so far. On this peaceful evening a female humpback named Glacier dives in Howe Sound, with a belly full of anchovy, and a new baby on the way; she is a beacon of hope for the survival of her species.