This series of drawings explore the differences between reading a written number and seeing that number counted as individuals. Large numbers can feel abstract and theoretical. These drawings depict whale population counts (sourced from the International Whaling Commission) as a collection of small cell-like shapes. Each cell represents one individual whale, while the larger shape represents the total population. The Pod installation was created as a 3D version inspired by this series, click here to view Pod.

“Now the various species of whales need some sort of popular comprehensive classification, if only an easy outline one for the present, hereafter to be filled in all its departments by subsequent laborers.”  —Herman Melville