A Salmon School Update
All photos courtesy of ©Ben Etridge.
Since their creation in 2019, 350 hand-made, blown glass salmon forms have finally arrived at their resting place at the very heart of the Glasgow COP26 climate summit. Their arrival marks the end of their migration phase and signals the beginning of the phase of inspiration. With the installation still ongoing in preparation for the arrival of the world’s many delegates next week, Salmon School curator Ben Heywood shares how its presence has already had its effect on those involved.
We have installed the sculpture while being able to interact with hundreds of the dedicated contractors working on setting up COP26. That human interaction is all part of the sculpture: a continuum of activity. The sculpture itself is only one manifestation of the human interactions that make up this project.
With that, some of the core messages of Salmon School are becoming hard to miss. As Joe Rossano, the mind behind the Salmon School art piece, put it:
The sculpture is both literally and metaphorically a mirror. It is born of industry, the raw materials of which were donated by people who care about the planet. We, they, have created this sculpture in order that we can look into that mirror, to look deeper into who we are, in order to make the changes that will not only save the wild salmon, but also ourselves.
One of the most important aspects of Salmon School’s place at COP26 is about more than just creating space for reflection amongst individuals. It is also about making space for delegates to rediscover the connections their own cities and civilisations have had to the wild salmon.
Within The Salmon School – through art, science, technology, community, youth, we are making people aware that there are many different paths to making a healthy planet for humans. One of those is salmon. Many cities were built at the mouth of rivers because of salmon, first settlements and then cities. Reconnecting to these shared histories, shared humanity, is at the core of The Salmon School community.
As an Alliance of five organisations, we will build on the existing work of our partners and maximise our impact by taking a coordinated approach and vital action in order to halt and reverse the decline of wild Atlantic salmon.
The goal of the Missing Salmon Alliance is to build an evidence-base to influence national and international decision-makers to regulate activities that adversely impact wild Atlantic salmon.
The Missing Salmon Alliance
The MSA is comprised of the following members:
Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, Atlantic Salmon Trust, the Angling Trust with Fish Legal, The Rivers Trust and Fisheries Management Scotland.
https://www.missingsalmonalliance.org