Museum

Walking through the doors of the museum, the smell of coffee and toast from the cafe lingering, boat head masts towering over me, I walk up the stone stairs to the rooms filled with archives and exhibits. Each room creating space for a tumultuous recipe of old and new, watching childrens hands reaching for the glass cases holding fossils that are nothing short of a million years old.

Walking slowly through, looking at items that were hidden for thousands of years, laying quietly in the soil, under sand and rocks; wondering who put the designs on that clay pot, who those bones belonged to - and what they would think about being propped up for eternity for later generations to look upon - wondering about the stuffed animals perched on metal branches, the jewelery that doesn’t sit on anyones neck. Every single object lending its funtion to the process of education.

The Box museum has become an invaluable resource to me, spending many hours pondering its rooms and learning about preservation and historical significance.

Throughout the curation of my current project, I have spent a lot of time searching for answers about things that are simply out of my depth, walking into this space and finding the answers has been vitally important to my understanding of marine life and its functions.

Within these walls I have been given the space to learn without barriers and explore worlds that don’t belong to me. Each visit gives me a reason to come back, I am constantly finding new interests; always looking for the details.

Learning about marine life is almost pale in comparison to attempting to understand human nature, the complexities surrounding habits, secret social rules and recipes for disaster seem to sit within our DNA. You see, there are approximately 80 shark attack instances each year, usually caused by humans entering space that doesn’t belong to them with sharks mistaking humans for seals and other animals they can feed on. In comparison it is estimated that humans kill approximately 100 million sharks every single year but they are labelled as monsters, uncontrollable creatures, thirsty for blood.

The leading cause of death to humans, killing roughly 700,000 people per year are mosquitos, though they do not kill with intent, they are deadly due to the disease they carry. The second leading cause of human deaths per year, affecting an average estimate of 500,000 per year, is humans - death by homocide.

As I have been learning about marine life it has become increasingly important to me to break down the harmful stereotypes we put on animals and understand the harm we are causing as humans whilst blaming anyone but ourselves. We are the leading cause of global warming, animal farming and millions of deaths every single year and though there are many people striving to give the earth back to itself, it is increasingly difficult.

I hope with the correct education and preservation that future generations will be aware of the needs of the planet and the other lives that inhabit it. It is through resources such as museums that we are able to continue to learn and grow and for many of us, they give us the hindsight to correct previous generational mistakes.

Sharks attack due to confusion, humans kill out of ignorance.