About the exhibition
Plain Things Wonders tells the story of how paying attention to nature can make plain things into wonders.
Marking 400 years since the publication of Francis Bacon’s Sylva Sylvarum (1626), the exhibition unfolds histories of citizen science, lay participation in natural observation, and how projects like Robert Hooke’s Micrographia (1665) and Gilbert White’s Natural History of Selbourne (1789) discover wonder in plain things.
The exhibition connects the science of natural history with the art of illustration, attention and visualisation. It asks how book art makes the ordinary stuff of nature beautiful, and how the long history of observation links with modern ecological challenges.
Come and embrace the opportunities to notice the plain things of the natural world in your everyday life.
Curators
- Dr Kathryn Murphy, Oriel College and Faculty of English, University of Oxford
- Toby Stinson, Faculty of English, University of Oxford
- Dr Kiera Chapman, Faculty of English, University of Oxford
- Dr Ollie Douglas, Curator of Collections, Museum of English Rural Life
- Stephanie Holt, Faculty of History, University of Oxford
- Professor Yadvinder Malhi, Oriel College and School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford
Acknowledgements
Plain Things Wonders is made possible with generous support from the John S Cohen Foundation.
