(WSB photo, August 7, 2016)

Six years have passed since that juvenile humpback whale stranded and died by the Fauntleroy ferry dock. It’s something we’ll never forget seeing – and hearing, as the 39-foot-long whale took her last breaths while people tried to save her. Later this month, the whale will be teaching posthumous lessons as part of a “walkshop” in nearby Lincoln Park. We received the announcement today from the Henry Art Museum, which invites you to the September 24th event “Care for the Stranded“ as part of its “Learning Endings” series:

On August 7, 2016, a juvenile humpback whale died on the beach just south of Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal in West Seattle. This animal was one of hundreds of marine mammals that strand every year on the northwest coast of the Pacific. These ocean-dwelling animals are mostly hidden from humans during their lifetimes, but in a stranding death, they reveal themselves to us, and call on us to care. This care can take many forms — from traditional ceremony, to scientific necropsy, to community vigil. Join Learning Endings collaborators for a forest and shoreline walk of storytelling, conversation, participation, and performance as we collectively consider what the death of the Fauntleroy humpback can teach us about the lives of these animals, those who care for them, and the entangled futures of humans and oceans.

Care for the Stranded is part of Learning Endings, a multi-part project by artists and researchers Patty Chang, Astrida Neimanis, and Aleksija Neimanis. Through a series of events, gatherings, research, and discussions, Learning Endings brings together local communities, scientists, artists, and humanities researchers to consider ecologies of care in a time of endings, with a focus on stranded marine mammals. For this Shoreline Walkshop, the Learning Endings collaborators will be joined by regional knowledge keepers Ken Workman, member of the Duwamish Tribal Council, and research biologist Jessie Huggins, as well as Canadian-based audio artist Anne Bourne.

Participants will meet at 9:30 am Saturday, September 24th, by the north parking lot of Lincoln Park (8011 Fauntleroy Way SW), and will be together for about three hours. There is no fee, but you need to register here (look for the “tickets” link). The Fauntleroy humpback was one of three whale strandings we covered on local shores last decade, along with a gray whale in The Arroyos in April 2010 and a fin whale at Seahurst Park in April 2013.