Set in an imagined kelp forest of the Salish Sea, this piece follows J63 and her mother J40 “Suttles” as they drift through golden fronds and shafts of turquoise light. The patterned surfaces on both whales are drawn from sound—spirals, ripples, and nested waves that echo spectrograms—because for Southern Residents, life is organized by listening: they navigate, find Chinook salmon, and keep family contact through sound.
Kelp here is more than backdrop. It is the nursery and refuge that helps seed the food web supporting salmon—sheltering juveniles and feeding the smaller creatures they depend on. When kelp thrives, salmon have a better start, and the whales’ chances improve.
At the heart of the scene is Suttles, J63’s mother—guardian, teacher, and acoustic anchor. Born to the late matriarch J14 “Samish” in the J14 matriline, Suttles carries forward a storied lineage. In 2025, researchers documented J63 as Suttles’ first known calf (later confirmed female). For a critically endangered community, every surviving calf matters; a new daughter holds the promise of future generations. In matrilineal orca culture, mothers like Suttles teach hunting tactics, salmon routes, and dialects, keeping calves within the family’s “acoustic bubble” and modeling cultural behaviors.
Those behaviors include a newly described social tradition: allokelping—Southern Resident killer whales biting off bull kelp and rolling it between their bodies like a shared grooming tool. It likely reinforces bonds and may aid skin care—a rare example of social tool use in marine mammals. The long, ribboning kelp stems in the artwork nod to this tactile language of touch, while the sound-wave motifs across Suttles and J63 suggest the constant, intimate conversation that binds them in the dim green water.
References
- Weiss, M. N., et al. (2025). Manufacture and use of allogrooming tools by wild killer whales. Current Biology.
