Endangered Delicacy
Endangered Delicacy is a piece of work that questions the moral and inhumane process of shark fin soup.Shark Fin soup is a luxury delicacy usually found in China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. It is estimated that over 100 million sharks are killed each year for the soup. The sharks are finned alive and tossed back into the water to die. Shark finning is one of the main reasons for the endangered status of many sharks. Johnson’s piece questions if a person actually saw freshly cut fins in the soup served with the finless shark, would it still be consumed?
Creation of the Fins
Over One Hundred fins were created by Earline out of clay. She decided to go with an iconic easily identified shape for the fins. Afterwards each fin was painted using acrylic paints. Johnson chose to paint the fins in a way to let the views know that shark finning is a very painful and cruel process.
The Finless Shark
To leave no doubts in the viewers mind about the inhumane nature of shark finning a bloody finless shark was created. The shark forces the viewers to see bodies discarded for the soup. Johnson sculpted the shark using clay. Then painted the shark using the same color palette as the fins created earlier.
Making of the Soup
Earline decided to recreate the shark fin soup using the fins created earlier, yarn and resin. She chose the yarn to mimic the look and texture of what actual shark fin soup looks like with the bloody fins. Johnson layered the yarn and fins with resin dyed yellow. All of the components were placed into a ramen styled bowl.
