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Warrington Museum & Art Gallery |   2022

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Lagoons draws together the Museum’s herpetology collection and Cabinet of Curiosities Gallery through collage, music, film, installation and performance to explore the preservation of amphibians and reptiles.

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Inspired by these species links to the monstrous and mythological, Ruby has drawn upon the museum’s Spirit Store, Prehistory gallery, Palissy-ware objects and painting ‘Daughter of the Lagoons’ to create interventions which look at these animals’ extraordinary nature in folklore and reality. Performances invite visitors to step into a fantastical underworld of anthropomorphic characters, who will be present in the galleries just as reptile creatures would have lounged around the vast red desert and salt lakes of pre historic Warrington.

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“...pictorial, literary, and film cultural narratives have only amplified negative emotions around herps. Simply put, they have always acted unknowingly as our templates or prototypes for monsters... the true curiosity cabinet –where herpetofauna always figure significantly-- is not about fear but wonder. And here the herps shine...” - Prof. Stephen Asma

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Collaborators

Martin Lewsley: Sound Installation

Steven Calver: scent installation

Simon Woolham: The frog

Holly Rush: The turtle

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With Thanks to:

 Froglife, Amphibian Foundation, Turtle Survival Alliance,

Manchetser Museum Vivarium, Drink Beer Save Turtles

 and support from PAPER Gallery, No Such Thing Records and Future’s Venture.

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