Glass previews The Lost Words exhibition at The Foundling Museum

THE Foundling Museum will open a new exhibition titled The Lost Words which explores the relationship between language and the living world. The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between award-winning author, Robert Macfarlane, and acclaimed artist and author, Jackie Morris, where Macfarlane’s poems are accompanied by watercolours by Morris.

Foundling museumJackie Morris, Conker, 2017 © Jackie Morris

The exhibition was inspired by Macfarlane’s and Morris’ shared concern about the disappearance of nature from children’s books. Therefore, this exhibition seeks to celebrate nature words and the images of the natural world that these words invoke. The artistic works capture first the absence of nature and is followed by the return of plants or creatures to their natural habitat.

Foundling museumJackie Morris, Kingfisher, 2017 © Jackie Morris

Foundling MuseumJackie Morris, Otter, 2017 © Jackie Morris

Macfarlane’s and Morris’ objective through this exhibition corresponds with the Foundling Hospital’s ethos with its practice of sending children to be fostered by rural families. Thus artefacts from the Hospital’s archive will also be included in the exhibition along the poems and watercolours.

Rebus token © The Foundling MuseumRebus token © The Foundling Museum

Foundling MuseumBattledore token for child number 2137 © CoramJackie Morris, Raven, 2017 © Jackie Morris

by Allie Nawrat 

The exhibition will be open from January 19, 2018 until May, 6 2018

The exhibition is accompanied by The Lost Words: A Spell Book, an illustrated hardback book

Admission costs £11 for adults, children can enter for free

The Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, London, WC1N 1AZ

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