Throughout the human story, we have used animal bones and caves to peer into the future. In dreams, rituals and modern science, they have functioned as time machines for people in search of answers to fundamental questions of survival.
Professor Danielle Schreve is gathering new insights into how species respond to climate change, through her excavation of Gully Cave in Somerset's Mendip Hills. Layer by layer, she is journeying back in time through the cave earth to reveal the remains of Ice Age animals. The light they shed on their world helps us predict future impacts of the climate and biodiversity crises in ours.
Visual artist and filmmaker Sean Harris uses animation as vessel for his exploration of Danielle’s story, the researchers who came before and those who now follow her. Assembled from bones held in museum collections, his menagerie of cave beasts leads us on a journey. Beginning with the mythology of the Old Testament, they chart the emergence of our modern understanding of climate and environmental change.
Schreve and Harris’ collaboration pushes against the boundaries contemporary society has erected between art and science. Both, after all, are processes through which we discern truth and find meaning in our world.
This exhibition was open from 17 April - 28 July 2024 in the Davison Exhibition Space.
CLICK HERE to explore the exhibition online in our new 360 tour!
