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The
Lost Words

21 October 2017 – 17 December 2017

The Lost Words ran from 21 October 2017 – 17 December 2017.

This enchanting exhibition combined the creative talents of writer Robert Macfarlane and artist Jackie Morris to celebrate the relationship between language and the living world, and nature’s power to spark the imagination.

An illustration depicting a hare amid yellow dandelions and other wildflowers, with goldfinches flying overhead in an idyllic natural scene.
Dandelion © Jackie Morris

About the
exhibition

In response to the gradual disappearance of nature from children’s stories and imaginations, Robert Macfarlane’s spell-poems and Jackie Morris’ beautiful, iridescent watercolours took visitors on a journey that made the familiar appear magical once more.

Featuring a series of immersive floor to ceiling graphics, family interpretation areas and recordings of Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris reading the poems, The Lost Words experience continued beyond the gallery as visitors were invited to explore the words and themes of the exhibition via an interactive discovery trail through the grounds.

“I want The Lost Words to delight the mind and the eye and send children to sleep dreaming of wild things.” Jackie Morris

The Lost Words was curated by Compton Verney, with Hamish Hamilton and Penguin Books.