As curator at Manchester Museum for 18 years, I’ve helped create a new exhibition, Wild, that showcases some incredible projects that are bringing plants and animals back from the brink of extinction, healing the land and restoring hope.
Often, the story of wildlife loss and climate change can seem overwhelming, so I’m excited about highlighting solutions that tackle some of the negative ways people influence nature. From June 5 2024 to June 1 2025, this exhibition brings these stories to life, through a rich selection of plants and animals from the near-extinct purple emperor butterfly that thrives at Knepp, an estate in West Sussex, England, to wolves making a dramatic return to Yellowstone National Park in the US.
The Wild team and I have chosen objects, films and photographs that highlight some of the most inspiring ways people are rewilding landscapes, from community action to protect green spaces in the city of Manchester to restoring the ancestral lands and practices of previously colonial land in south-west Australia by the Noongar people. By inspiring awe and wonder, the exhibition gives glimpses of how nature can thrive when given the opportunity.
