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.
Jackie 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.
Jackie Morris, Kingfisher, 2017 © Jackie Morris
Jackie 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 Museum
Battledore token for child number 2137 © Coram
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