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Whale sand sculptures to return to the sea in an emotional tribute to the 2023 whale stranding on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides.Traigh Mhor beach on the Isle of Lewis will transform into a poignant site of remembrance and performance on 12 July 2025. Music and visual art will combine in a site-specific commemoration of the 2023 whale stranding.

Keening – Song of the Stranding is a community-driven and deeply collaborative project informed by scientific research and local workshops. It culminates in a communal act of creating sand sculptures of whales on the beach, led by visual artist Sam Gare and choreographed by Aya Kobayashi. 

Music composed by Alex South, Katherine Wren and Nerea Bello combines influences from long-finned pilot whale sounds and the Gaelic and international keening tradition. Performing the work forges an emotional connection between community and nature through art. At the end of the performance, the sand whale sculptures will be reclaimed by the tide.

The project integrates marine research, historical archives, and creative storytelling, fostering a deeper public connection to whale strandings. By blending scientific research with artistic interpretation, the project reflects on our evolving relationship with whales, conservation, and ecological change.

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Music development for 'Keening - Song of the Stranding', multidisciplinary art project commemorating a pilot whale mass stranding in the Outer Hebrides (Scotland). Featuring Alex South (clarinet), Katherine Wren (viola), Nerea Bello (voice). Visual arts Sam Gare. Choreography Aya Kobayashi. Inspirations include Calum Johnston's recording of 'Pill iù Pill ill ill ill Eòghainn', the sounds of the long-finned pilot whale on recordings made by the Cape Breton Pilot Whale Project and Heike Vester (Ocean Sounds), and their analysis by Zwamborn & Whitehead (2017a, 2017b) and Vester et al (2017).

https://on.soundcloud.com/nwfHyu3Zo9tZpjVk8

Sam Gare, Visual Artist

"Focusing on creativity, the sand-casting process will echo the collective physical and emotional effort of the local community during the original rescue attempt. By casting these forms in sand, we symbolically breathe life back into the whales—honouring their memory and that of the community—before returning them to the sea. I’m honoured to be working the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme and the Natural History Museum, so that scientific and historical context deepen our connection to these events.”

Musician Alex South

“This project will allow me to explore the musicality of the long-finned pilot whale, who use their repetitive, ornamented, and resonant calls to negotiate their complex social relationships. I'm excited to be creating a unique site-specific piece of performance art that we hope will nurture the deep concern held by many for the plight of marine mammals at a time of warming oceans and other anthropogenic threats.” 

Richard Sabin, Principal Mammals Curator, Natural History Museum , London

In 1913, the Natural History Museum  London, became the birthplace for the recording and study of strandings around the British Isles. For more than a century, the NHM Cetacea research collection has been a repository for material collected as part of those studies, holding skeletons and casts of animals whose lives ended on our shores. Sam Gare’s work reminds us of the human/animal interactions and emotions generated by the loss of these lives. It’s fitting that Sam is working directly with material from the Natural History Museum.”

Mariel T.I. ten Doeschate, Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS)

“In July 2023, SMASS responded to the stranding of 55 long-finned pilot whales on Traigh Mhor on the Isle of Lewis, which at that time was the largest mass stranding event we had ever responded to. While this is of course a tragic loss of life, these events also provide a unique chance to examine not only why these animals stranded, but also how they lived before the stranding…When Sam and her team reached out about the project we were excited to get involved and contribute the scientific information that underpins the stories of these individual animals that died in the stranding. We are very happy we can share the findings of our research to tell the story of these individuals through Keening – Song of the Stranding.”

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Keening Song of the Stranding & In the Wake of Whales - A4

Keening – Song of the Stranding is made possible through the generous support from Creative Scotland’s Open Fund, Hope Scott Trust, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland 'Make It Happen Fund', and Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (University of Edinburgh). It was developed in partnership with Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS), and the Outer Hebrides Wildlife Festival, and was developed in the Natural History Museum's Cetacea collection, with Isabel Davis in the Collections and Culture Research theme and Principal Curator in Mammals, Richard Sabin.

Creative Scotland is the public body that supports culture and creativity across all parts of Scotland, distributing funding provided by the Scottish Government and The National Lottery.

We would like to thank the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) for their invaluable contribution to this work, and Dr Rachel Ball for determining the genetic relationships as part of SMASS’s investigations into the stranding event.

This work is rooted in sustainability and a deep respect for the environment. The artwork is transient, created from the natural sand of the beach, leaving no lasting impact on the landscape. As the tide washes the sculptures away, it reflects the cycles of nature and the impermanence of life. By using only natural materials and ensuring nothing is left behind, the project honours the whales in a way that is both meaningful and environmentally responsible.