It was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen
It was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen - detail
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Back home
It seemed incredible that they had dominated the planet
It seemed incredible that they had dominated the planet - detail
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It seemed incredible that they had dominated the planet - detail
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In spite of everything, it was a wonderful world
They had come a long way to meet
She assumed she had gone extinct
She introduced herself to the new neighbours
She introduced herself to the new neighbours - detail
She introduced herself to the new neighbours - detail
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I know the way - detail
NEL PAESE DELLA MERAVIGLIA
(In Wonderland)
Barbara Capponi e Marcello Carrà,
Curated by Maria Livia Brunelli
Natural History Museum of Ferrara,
20 June – 20 October 2019
Animals have always been our travel companions on the planet. In most ancient cultures and religions, nature and animals were of great importance and were seen as magical and divine expressions of the great mystery of life. Animals embodied divinities and divinities could take the form of animals, as illustrated in Greek and Latin mythologies, among others.
It is probable that for hundreds of thousands of years there was no real line between nature and divinity.
Yet it only took a few centuries – an instant, compared to the timeline of life on earth – for the anthropocentric myth to distance us dramatically from the rest of Nature, bringing us the presumption – and the curse – of no longer being part of it.
We know full well that we are animals and that man belongs to the great ape family, but, in common language, animals are always others. Not us.
We are spectators, masters, consumers. We have ceased to be the children and relatives and traveling companions of all the other creatures with whom we share this splendid and ferocious time on earth.
The world is still full of wonderful things – big and small, before our eyes every day or hidden at the bottom of the ocean. Only our gaze has apparently become extinct.
Love and enchantment for other animals are evident especially in children.
Only when we are open to wonder can we really see each other for who we are.
