Takaya

I spent many years on the water around Victoria. I had the opportunity to see Takaya on multiple occassions. After each encounter I was always left thinking about him for hours. Why did he go to the Chatham Islands? Why did he stay there? In my last encounter with him he had been resting up on a hill. As I watched him from the boat he got up and slowly walked down towards the water closer to me and then laid down and watched me. It was then that I took a few photos of him. I couldn't help but feel that he had wanted this mildly social interaction. Was he lonely? Or just curious? Regardless, there seemed to be a trust there. After his death, I was gutted and even more so knowing that it was a human interaction that ended his life. In a way, I even felt a little responsibility, as a human. In the end, I just really wanted to try and honour his spirit by capturing him in paint. The painting is from my last encounter with Takaya.