Katie First Recipient of Squad International Residency Award

A private donation has enabled the Squad to establish an International Residency Award of £1000 and its first recipient is Katie Walters. Using the award, together with an Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice grant, Katie is travelling to Iceland this September to delve into a lifelong interest in the natural history of whales.

Human relationships with whales have shifted wildly over the past 100 years, as they have gone from legendary sea monsters, to valuable industrial commodities and an emblem of what might be lost to the ravages of climate change. Museum collections physically embody these changes, as the preservation and display of cetacean remains was and continues to be profoundly impacted by their cultural contexts. By visiting a number of museum spaces in Iceland, with varied cetacean collections that span the past century, Katie will learn more about the biases that have informed the natural history of whales, and create an artistic response encouraging audiences to recognise and take ownership of them.

Katie plans to share findings and a creative response with the Squad and a wider audience in March ’24.