Unsettled Nature: Artists Reflect on the Age of Humans | Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

What is “natural” in a world where the human imprint is everywhere?

Humans are shaping the world in ways big and small, intentional and unintentional, visible and invisible.

Seven contemporary artists challenge viewers to think about the changes we make to our planet.

a gray large snowflake

Did you know?

Nearly a billion birds die annually from flying into tall buildings.

Look For

black background with white several white spirals in a grid — Cross-sections of a tree once considered extinct—but discovered growing in Australia in the mid-1990s / Courtesy Dornith Doherty

two angled views of a street corner empty lot one empty with trash the other overgrown with green plants — The “spontaneous urban plants” that green city landscapes / Courtesy Ellie Irons

aerial view of gray tone copper mine with tracks showing — Aerial images of remote industrial sites, like this copper mine in Chile /© David Maisel/ Courtesy of Edwynn Houk Gallery

Things to Do

Listen to a musical composition charting the decline of the African elephant population.
Examine tapestries picturing vanishing environments from the Amazon to the Arctic.
Consider the connections between human action and environmental response.
Hear the artists’ perspectives and join the conversation at the virtual artist event series (ongoing September 2021- March 2022)

Experience More

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