Manchester Museum’s new exhibition will explore our relationship with the natural world and unique approaches to environmental recovery.
Coinciding with World Environment on Wed 5 Jun, Wild will delve into how people are creating, rebuilding and repairing connections with nature, shedding light on how we can tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis.
The exhibition will introduce visitors to five wild places across the globe, capturing a diverse range of voices ranging from Aboriginal elders to researchers and community activities, all tied together by a common goal of looking to ‘wild’ for a more positive future.
Featuring an immersive installation, audio, film and interactive elements, alongside natural history collections and artworks, the exhibition encourages visitors to notice the biodiversity and heritage of wild places and invites us to question our relationships with the natural world.
The wild places included in the collection are Manchester; Knepp Rewilding Project, West Sussex; Lamlash Bay, Arran, North Ayrshire; Noongar Nowanup Boodja, Western Australia; and Yellowstone National Park, USA.
Each of these places has been chosen having been historically shaped by humans to support farming, hunting, fishing, housing and industry, often to the detriment of the land, people and nature.
Wild also examines how the natural world has been traditionally presented and idealised through Western art, from pastoral scenes to representations in popular culture, from Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows to CBeebies’ Octonauts.
David Gelsthorpe, Curator of Earth Science Collections, says: “Wild aims to provide hope in the face of a situation that often leaves many of us feeling pessimistic. The exhibition highlights work being done by communities right now, to build stronger relationships with nature and shape their world for the better.
“The exhibition aims to encourage everyone to see that they can make a difference, no matter how big or small. It’s as relevant for local families in Manchester as it is for researchers and policy-makers. The ultimate goal of the exhibition is to ask the public what kind of world we want to live in and what we’re willing to do to realise that vision.”
Wild opens on Wed 5 Jun and will run until June 2025.
Featured image credit: COAST & Howard Wood
- Words:
- Bradley Lengden
- Published on:
- Tue 28 May 2024
