Beyond Environmental Art: Reimagining Nature as Kin at Science Gallery London

Walking through the dim-lit spaces of Science Gallery London today, I found myself in thoughtful conversation with my mentor Noorin Khamisani MA FHEA and my fashion design colleagues Raffaella Bichiri Alessandra Falbo Lucía Ruiz-Casaux Isabelle Cazzaniga . Together, we were drawn into a world where elements aren't just resources - they're relatives. In an era where climate change headlines often inspire despair, the gallery's latest exhibition "Vital Signs: Another World is Possible" offers something different: a perspective where air, water, fire, and earth emerge as ancestors, relatives, and even deities.

Rather than merely documenting environmental decline, the exhibition reimagines our relationship with the natural world through a lens of kinship and sacred connections. This approach particularly resonates with me, as someone fascinated by artworks that elevate natural elements beyond mere materials to be consumed.

This theme of elemental kinship runs deep through the exhibition. In "Air is Kin," the installation draws on non-western knowledge to reimagine air as a relative - a complex living system whose health is intertwined with our own.

Perhaps the most visceral example of this environmental kinship is found in Gayle Chong Kwan's "I Am the Thames and the Thames is Me." The installation's eight 'river guardians' aren't merely symbolic - they're physically crafted from waste dredged from the Thames and London's sewage system. A calico wall hanging, dyed with natural pigments, maps pollution sites along the river, while a fantastical fabric map finished with hand-painted bio-waste creates a material timeline of the river's health from the Great Stink of 1858 to present-day challenges.

The exhibition's commitment to diverse cultural perspectives offers crucial insights into environmental stewardship. The "Cosmological Visionaries" installation reveals how the Nuosu people of Southwest China are navigating the intersection of their traditional animistic beliefs with modern renewable energy infrastructure - a living example of how traditional and contemporary worldviews might find common ground in addressing climate challenges.

Among the most poetic installations is "Night Bloom," which weaves together environmental metaphors with social justice. The piece uses biodiversity as a metaphor for deaf community resilience - while storms and wilting flowers represent systematic discrimination, the abundant landscapes filled with birds and insects offer hope for growth and renewal. What makes this installation particularly compelling is its use of dance movements incorporating Visual Vernacular and traditional Chinese Sign Language (CSL). The dancers' hands shoot out roots, representing mycorrhizal networks - the underground pathways through which plants and fungi communicate across species. In this way, the piece transforms communication itself into an ecological act, suggesting that true environmental inclusion must encompass all forms of human expression.

"Rights of the Deep" confronts the paradox within our pursuit of sustainable energy. The installation exposes how deep-sea mining for renewable energy components threatens marine ecosystems and coastal communities, demonstrating that environmental solutions must be carefully considered to avoid creating new forms of ecological damage.

Through interactive installations, audio-visual displays, and physical artifacts, these complex environmental concepts become tangible, emotional experiences. The path to environmental healing, the exhibition suggests, might lie not in technological solutions alone, but in fundamentally reimagining our relationship with the natural world.

As I moved through the space, each installation seemed to whisper the same question: How different might our approach to environmental protection be if we viewed nature as family rather than resource? It's a question that lingers long after leaving the gallery, carried along by the distant rumble of trains crossing London Bridge and the flow of the Thames below.

The exhibition runs until May 17, 2025, offering free entry to those seeking a different perspective on our environmental future - one where human and environmental health are understood as inseparable, and where ancient wisdom might help light the way toward a more sustainable world.