The Paper Penguin Project

This site has been created to document and record the travels of Dennis and experiences of his brothers and sisters.

Dennis was the first of the family to get itchy feet (not Athlete's Foot) and soon realised that the urge to travel in him was very strong.

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When Dennis left the country his brothers and sisters have all expressed the need to travel great distances in search of some kind of reason for their existence.Dennis is currently assisting Dave Houston, a ranger for the Department of Conservation in New Zealand, and has been there since October '99 and shows no sign of wanting to come home.

Since Dennis there have been numerous penguin adventures including Hong Kong, New York, Canada and Bristol Zoo. All the ‘residencies’ have been compiled and presented on this website specifically created for this work.

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I have had a penguin working with Washington University, Seattle, preparing for an expedition to the North Pole (first non-commercial penguin to the North Pole, I believe).

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Other hosts, to date, are teachers in Hawaii and Alaska. All these, I hope, will make extremely interesting residencies to be documented on this website.

I hope are to raise awareness to the issues that can be found within the work such as conservation, waste and wildlife protection.

I have approached them using humour, as I believe that humour is far more effective especially with children. I was contacted by a number of kindergarten schools regarding the work and the issues involved.

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I wish to establish a network of ‘paper penguin’ residencies (not necessarily permanent) around the world in locations of conservation, ecological and educational importance, that will send back documentation (in the form of e-mail) and photographs. The information of each penguin's experiences of the culture and lifestyle of their location will then be published on this website.

In 2001, upon finishing my degree, I travelled to Australia and New Zealand and learnt a lot more about penguins and the people who work with them. Whilst I was in New Zealand I popped down to Oamaru to visit Dennis and Dave and ended up staying with them for a couple of weeks (off and on). I got to see the blue penguin colony and meet the great people who work there. They made my visit very special and looked after me well and I can't wait to return. I fancy a 'Cri Pie' as well!

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My intention is to make this site fun and educational as well as being environmentally informative. The penguins give an insight into different cultures and lifestyles around the world and will hopefully raise awareness of the fragility of life and the need to educate people to protect it. As far as I know this art work is unique and has great potential.
What I hope I have created is an exciting, unpredictable project that will capture the imagination of many people around the globe.

To place this artwork into a category is, I find, the hardest part of this project; the family are all made of newspaper, these are then sent to people around the world or country.

The strongest 'art' issue here seems to be one of communication. Each penguin is made of text and stories; each penguin is sent by post; each penguin is received by another person; the other person contacts me and a dialogue is established. The work relies on communication, not with people I know but with complete strangers. Their involvement in the work is as important as mine and none of this work could be carried out without the cooperation and enthusiasm of these fine people.

If anyone has any questions regarding my work please don’t hesitate to contact me.

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If anyone has any suggestions for funding, sponsorship or whatever please contact me.

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I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy creating it.
Guy Wooles BA(Hons)