A Fish Can’t Swim for that Long - Fishing for Stickleback in Pink Lake (2017)

 

This kinetic sculpture is based on a fish, the Three-spined stickleback. The stickleback is a highly adaptable fish that can be found in freshwater or seawater. This specific variant is a holdover from the prehistoric salted Champlain Sea, a body of water that was transformed by the glaciers into Pink Lake, Gatineau Park. The stickleback is one of very few living creatures that resides in Pink lake, it’s meromictic properties makes the water a difficult place to live in, due to lack of mixing which reduces the distribution of nutrients and oxygen.

​

The focal point of the sculpture is a long intricate lure, made of a realistic cast of a stickleback. The fish will be suspended in a narrow horizontal eight foot Plexiglas aquarium containing rushing water. The water will be circulating using a powerful, but quiet, aquarium pump. The water will be animating the sculpture simulating a fish or lure ‘’swimming’’.

​

The fish/lure’s long enduring swim represents the stickleback’s evolutionary journey through water desalination and thousands of years of gradual change. Lately the lake has been experiencing abundant algae blooms due to eutrophication. This is increased by human activity and is threatening the lake's fragile ecosystem. The title and use of the lure alludes to do the unpermitted act of fishing on the lake. The lure is also meant to attract the spectator, much like it would a fish in the water.