Announcements 
Cod in the Mortal Sea
November 12, 2024
Cod, the short narrative.
The sculpture refers to the history of cod fishing as gleaned from the book by retired UNH history professor, Jeffrey Bolster called the “The Mortal Sea”. Bolster documents, like other authors such as Mark Kurlansky in his book about Cod, the history of the ocean and the relentlessly human quest for fish and money and the resulting depletion of the ocean’s wildlife.
Bolster states that in the mid 1600’s “exports of dried and salted cod were on their way to becoming the lynchpin in the New England economy spurring the shipbuilding and shipping services at the heart of New England’s remarkable economic development”.
As noted in Jeff’s book, The Mortal Sea, fishing---cod fishing in particular--- has had a huge influence on the development and economy of the Seacoast over the centuries.
This sculpture pays tribute to that influence and has changed the dull character of the pavilion by painting the ceiling blue and drenching the pavilion with blue LED lights and hanging 20 silver cod fish sculptures.
And like all human activities, fishing included, this sculpture has multiple sides: one side is the day-time image of shiny fish and sunshine, and the other side is night-time image with the blue lights and the subsequent shadows with all the connotations of a shadow.
Visit Seacoast Online to read more:
Cod in the Mortal Sea
The sea was once presumed infinite.
Vast and mysterious
with sea creatures equally so.
Cod fish each as big as heavy as a man.
pursuing the tiny fish
spawning and swarming in schools
miles wide and many tens of miles long.
It was all an endless bounty,
before the hooks the nets the trawlers
and then, the floating freezer factories.
A bounty, before the men.
Merchant men,
making fortunes trading salted cod everywhere
and to Caribbean plantations.
a moneyed triangle, cod-molasses-humans.
Relentless men,
greedily devouring the ocean’s wildlife
like menhaden after plankton.
Top of the food chain men,
As if we were not part of the
circle of life……………
Casting our shadows fathoms deep and generations long.
Terrence Parker 2.2.24 / 10.2.24
163.A Court Street · Portsmouth, NH 03801 · 603.531.9109
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