Daily Archives: December 22, 2023

Now through July 28 – Bats! at the Peabody Essex Museum

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Meet bats — live and up close — in this multisensory Peabody Essex Museum exhibition exploring the wondrous world of bats and our connections with them. The only mammals that can truly fly, these animals have developed a host of superpowers that have benefited both humans and habitats around the world. Yet bats remain shrouded in mystery.

Often misunderstood creatures, bats have long been associated with the underworld, magic and superstition. They have also come to symbolize good and evil. Highly beneficial to their ecosystems, bats are often regarded as indicator species that help gauge the health of the environment and reveal the effects of climate change and other human-caused threats.

Meet a small colony of live Egyptian fruit bats on view in The Dotty Brown Art & Nature Center through the run of the exhibition. Accompanied by PEM collection objects, contemporary artworks, pop culture items and interactive zones, visitors will learn about the unique biology of bats and more deeply understand the vital role they play in our lives, ecologically, culturally and as inspiration for technological advances.

Bats! features works by the following living artists. Resa Blatman, Michael Brolly, Nick Demakes, Juan Nicolás Elizalde, Steve Hollinger, Michael LaFosse and Richard L. Alexander, Tony Rubino, David Yann Robert, Rebecca Saylor Sack, Lino Tagliapietra and Jeffrey Veregge.

This exhibition, on view through July 28, is organized by and produced by ExplorationWorks! and Build 4 Impact Inc. All rights reserved. The installation at PEM includes additional artworks, objects, interactives, and text developed by the museum and is made possible by the Dorothy Brown Bequest for Art and Nature and the Albert M. Creighton Jr. Fund for Art and Nature. Additional support was provided by Susan and Appy Chandler and the Creighton Narada Foundation. We thank the generosity of Carolyn and Peter S. Lynch and The Lynch Foundation, and James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes, Chip and Susan Robie and Timothy T. Hilton as supporters of the Exhibition Innovation Fund. We also recognize the generosity of the East India Marine Associates of the Peabody Essex Museum and the support and guidance of the Art & Nature Center Visiting Committee.

Follow along on social media using #BatsatPEM

Tuesday, January 16, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – Queer Gardens: Queer Ecology

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Gardens are many things. An oasis for nature, a retreat from the outside world, a haven for blooms. But how has the LGBTQI+ community been involved with their design, upkeep and prominence throughout the years? How is queerness seen in the natural world?

As well as being a historian and tour guide, Sheldon K Goodman is also passionate about gardening. He will give three talks looking at queerness in gardens from the work of gardeners, LGBTQI+ led community gardening initiatives in London, historical people such as Virginia Woolf, Reginald Farrer and Sir Francis Bacon and queer ecology’s roots in Michel Foucault’s The History of Sexuality (tr. Robert Hurley, 1978-2021, Pantheon Books) as well as queer gardening in the here and now.

The second session on January 16 is Queer Ecology. Nature is queer! The heteronormative lens that the natural world has been viewed with until comparatively recently is a sham. Nature is full of wonderful and remarkable examples of diversity, such as sex changing ferns, dual-genitaled garden pests and the unique same-sex relationships between some of our favourite garden birds. Sheldon will showcase some of these instances of queerness and will also be highlighting the work of queer ecologists who are tirelessly bringing awareness to our parks, gardens and open spaces through events, engagement and education. This Gardens Trust talk is £8 through Eventbrite, or £15.75 for the series. Register HERE Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days (and again a few hours) prior to the start of the first talk, and a link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week.