Sounding Line is an immersive ceramic installation that explores the devastating effect of marine sound and sonar pollution on whale species. The large-scale sculptural forms are inspired by whales’ tiny inner-ear bones. They are made from a unique clay body using whale bone ash - the same way cow bones have been used for centuries to make bone china. This is the first UK institutional solo show from artist Mella Shaw.
The project takes its name from a sounding line, a length of rope with a weight used by mariners to measure the depth of water. In the installation, Mella wraps her sculptures in red marine rope that resonate with sonar pulse. Encouraged to touch the ropes, visitors will feel these vibrations, reflecting how marine life experience sonar underwater.
The installation is accompanied by photographs and a short film. The film documents a journey the artist made to South Uist, in the Outer Hebrides. Here she returned one unfired sculptural form back into the sea, where it slowly dissolved in the sea water.
It is fitting that this work is staged in Dundee, Britain’s leading whaling port in the second half of the nineteenth century. Against the context of the City’s maritime and whaling heritage, Sounding Line invites us to reflect on the human impact on our environment.
Mella Shaw: Sounding Line runs at The McManus from 24 May 2025 until 18 January 2026.
