A whale of a tail tale

These whale tail sculptures have been scattered around Auckland the past few months. Each is decorated by a local artist, and each has a story.

(I will say in passing that until this exhibit, a whale tail in my mind was something that occasionally appears below a tramp stamp. But clearly the world – or at least Auckland – has moved on from such puerile and sexist thinking.)

They follow a similar campaign of owls a few years ago, and it’s all modeled after the famous Cowparade idea. At the end of the exhibition period, there was an auction, and civic-minded bidders could plump down a few grand for some worthy cause, keeping the piece for permanent display.

If only Captain Ahab had had ApplePay and a pickup truck… things would have been much easier for him, not to mention millions of 11th graders.