Winner of the People's Choice, Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2020.

Collection of Nicola and Andrew Forest

Black Emperors is an installation of three life-sized all black Emperor Penguins between 1.1 and 1.4 metres high. Emperor Penguins occasional display a rare genetic mutation called melanism which presents as an almost completely black animal. In the icy places where they live and swimming in the sea this mutation would cause the animal to stand out amongst its fellow penguins and be predated upon so they have remained rare but if a change in their environment from melting ice meant they had to find ways to live on bare rocky shores then you can imagine how a mutation like this could conceivably become an adaptation.