Edward Hobbs Scrimshaw

Scrimshaw explores ideas of man’s relationship with the seas and creatures of the deep, and issues of man’s over-exploration and cruelty towards them. Scrimshaw, a folk art often made by anonymous artists, tells the stories of seamen’s experiences in maritime history and show the dangers and fragility of life on the seas for ships, sailors and sea creatures alike. The fine, delicately thin, translucent, white porcelain boats represent the seafarers and their craft, the ‘teeth’, the fragile tusks and bones of sea creatures washed and worn by the oceans, providing the blank canvas on which their stories are told.