Great White Shark
Just when you thought sharks couldn't get any scarier, it turns out that their entire bodies are literally COVERED with teeth! Faith experimented with ways to create shark skin using plastic milk bottles and came across Shark skin under a microscope. Shark skin is made of microscopic diamond shaped scales with rough edges, called "denticles" thought to share an evolutionary origin with teeth.
The flexible but irregular surface is impossible for barnacles and other micro-organisms to cling to, as well as decreasing drag and turbulence. Faith Bebbington and her team used over 800 plastic milk bottles one milk bottle per tooth) to create the awesome Great White Shark sculpture, another commission for Veolia. The 3 metre long suspended sculpture was created by Faith in her studio over a period of six weeks.
The new sculpture was installed in time for the official launch of Veolia's new Dagenham Plastics Facility, held on 19th September 2017 in the presence of Estelle Brachlianoff, Senior Executive Vice-President of Veolia UK & Ireland and Rajesh Agrawal, Deputy Mayor of London for Business, the guest of honour. The making of the Great White Shark sculpture was documented in a short film screened at the celebration which you can view below. The staff at the Veolia plant have named the sculpture 'Bruce' to connect with the Great White Sharks home in Australia!
The shark was rehung with a new freestanding metal frame to suspend the sculpture within. There are a couple of studio photos of it before going back to Veolia Dagenham to go on display again.
