BONE AND OIL: THE VISUAL AND MATERIAL REPRESENTATION OF WHALING IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITAIN, 1796-1867

Within art history the visual culture of nineteenth-century whaling has been largely absent from key debates and discussions, especially around the environment, with the topic’s cultural identity still largely formed around the pages of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851), and still the reserve of economic and historical researchers. My thesis challenges this by focusing on the visual and material culture of whaling in the context of wider environmental debates and a more intersectional method. It offers an important intervention into the topic of whaling representation by demonstrating the significance of various whaling material objects within the context of gender, environment and animal studies.
At a time of such environmental uncertainty, when whale numbers are being threatened by rising sea levels, illegal and “legal” fishing and ocean plastics, this PhD offers the chance to consider the visual ethics of past representations of the whaling trade, and how they can aid in reflecting current representations and hopefully help in shaping future directions.