Second Nature: What is ‘Nature’ Anyway?

We’re delighted to announce that artist Louise Hewitt will be exhibiting her ceramic garden creatures in Second Nature at The Portico Library. These sculptures were created to communicate the stories of plant life cycles and help us to connect more with nature.

Recent studies show that two-thirds of UK adults feel they have ‘lost touch with nature’ and our vocabulary to describe it is diminishing. How might new ideas and definitions of nature affect our priorities, and can reconnecting with the living world help us find solutions to current environmental emergencies and broader social divisions?

Second Nature brings together historic literature and artefacts, up-to-date research and new works by contemporary artists and young people to ask what we mean by ‘natural’ and ‘unnatural’ today and how these terms have been used throughout the modern age.