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All the United States New Mexico Santa Fe Ethyl the Whale

Ethyl the Whale

Life-sized sculpture of a blue whale made of hand-recycled plastic trash.

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Added By
Amanda Hatherly
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Ethyl.   Hatherly / Atlas Obscura User
  wilkfam136 / Atlas Obscura User
  wilkfam136 / Atlas Obscura User
Swimming to the sunset   ickaimp / Atlas Obscura User
Ethyl lit from within at night is cool.   HTap / Atlas Obscura User
Ethyl at night   HTap / Atlas Obscura User
Ethyl with the Las Vegas fire in the background. :(   hopelalas / Atlas Obscura User
Close up of Ethyl   hopelalas / Atlas Obscura User
Ethyl Info.   hopelalas / Atlas Obscura User
Sunrise winter Ethyl.   Jeffrey Caraway / Atlas Obscura User
Ethyl during winter   Jeffrey Caraway / Atlas Obscura User
A winter visit   cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
Can’t miss her.   Julio Torres / Atlas Obscura User
Close up of the whale’s eye.   Hatherly / Atlas Obscura User
  Spinach / Atlas Obscura User
  chasepopt / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
  tylercole / Atlas Obscura User
  tylercole / Atlas Obscura User
  tylercole / Atlas Obscura User
  wilkfam136 / Atlas Obscura User
  breaingram / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Ethyl the Whale is an  82-foot-long, life-sized sculpture of a blue whale that holds the Guinness world record for largest recycled plastic sculpture. It was created by two artists from San Francisco, Yustina Salnikova and Joel Stockdill, to bring awareness to the negative impact plastics have on the environment, and was named after its polyethylene body. 

Ethyl was originally built for the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. It was subsequently acquired by the Santa Fe-based art collective Meow Wolf in 2019 and then dramatically transported to the New Mexico desert.

You can walk all around Ethyl to explore the enormous work of art, and also enjoy it illuminated at night.

Related Tags

Whales Sculptures Trash Universities Animals

Know Before You Go

Ethyl is located on the back side of the Santa Fe Community College campus, so drive around on the loop road and you can't miss her.

Community Contributors

Added By

Hatherly

Edited By

joeldean111, Spinach, tylercole, hopelalas...

  • joeldean111
  • Spinach
  • tylercole
  • hopelalas
  • ickaimp
  • Collector of Experiences
  • breaingram
  • HTap
  • cait7911
  • Jeffrey Caraway
  • Julio Torres
  • chasepopt
  • vsbrinkman
  • wilkfam136

Published

June 14, 2019

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Sources
  • https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/542843-largest-recycled-plastic-sculpture-supported
  • https://meowwolf.com/articles/meow-wolf-sfcc-recycled-whale-sculpture
Ethyl the Whale
86 College Dr
Santa Fe, New Mexico, 87508
United States
35.607164, -105.995599
Visit Website
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Stories 2

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Photo of Santa Fe

Santa Fe

New Mexico

Places 23
Stories 2

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