Lena C. Emery’s photography traces the fragile threads that bind humans to the environments they so often forget they’re part of. Her latest series offers a tender and immersive portrait of a resident sperm whale family off the coast of Dominica. In 2023, Dominica established the world’s first sperm whale sanctuary, safeguarding these at-risk animals across 800km of ocean, implementing measures to protect them from ship strikes, noise pollution and entanglement. The largest of the toothed whales, their numbers plummeted after nearly two hundred years of commercial whaling but the population is recovering, while still being faced with the dangers that human behaviour causes to all marine life. Like all whales, they play a vital role in regulating ocean ecosystems. Even in death their bodies offer life to the ocean floor, providing essential sustenance to all animals that exist in the deepest places on Earth. Emery’s photos take the viewer inside the majestic creatures’ vast blue home, capturing tender moments such as a mother with two calves, or whales sleeping vertically, totally motionless. She also released a film ‘Their Ocean’ in collaboration with Atmos and Parley.
To learn more about the project, head over to Parley to read an interview with Emery, where she discusses her childhood, her pathway into photography and diving with the sperm whales of Dominica.