Birth. A cube inspired by the beginning of the salmon lifecycle
Salmon spawn naturally in freshwater.
Spawning typically occurs in the headwater and tributary streams of rivers,
though it can happen anywhere in a river if the substrate is suitable.
‘Birth’ is constructed from sheets of polycarbonate, cut with holes to
reflect the salmon eggs. The sheet have coloured vinyl applied to them to
represent the thousands of vibrant orange pea sized eggs that the salmon lay.
The migration to suitable habitat may commence up to a year before spawning takes place in autumn-winter, salmon ceasing to feed, directing all their energy instead to reproduction. Usually the female salmon will excavate a depression in the gravel with her tail, and deposit her eggs into this. One or more males discharge sperm over the falling eggs to fertilize. The female then covers the eggs with gravel to a depth of several centimetres. The parents then leave the eggs in the nest or "redd" and there is no further parental care.
