Co-curated by the Land Gardeners: Henrietta Courtauld and Bridget Elworthy, curator and writer May Rosenthal Sloan and Claire Catterall, Senior Curator at Somerset House Trust, the SOIL: The world at your feet exhibition, unites visionary artists and thinkers from around the world to explore the remarkable power and potential of soil.
Soil contains 25% of the Earth’s known biodiversity and 75% of its terrestrial biomass, providing natural fertility and regulates our watercourses and climate. Too often forgotten, ignored and reduced to just ‘dirt’, soil represents a vast range of processes, without which human life would not be possible. A vast ecosystem, soil contains thousands of species of fungi, bacteria and single-celled predators, such as amoebae – with more much for scientists to discover.
Focussing on the inter-connection of soil and all life, SOIL brings together a range of stories and responses from a group of global artists, writers and scientists. Combining sensory artworks, historical objects, scientific artefacts and documentary evidence, it sets out to inspire and educate visitors about the power and the fragility of soil, its fundamental role in human civilisation, and its remarkable potential to heal the planet.
With a message of hope and urgency, encouraging a more sustainable, harmonious relationship with the earth, the exhibition hopes to inspire both awe and optimism in those willing to dig below the surface of a world they only thought they knew.
Featuring over 50 works in a diverse range of media, including new commissions from artists such as Sam Williams, Something & Son, Semantica (Jemma Foster and Camilla French) with Juan Cortés and Vivien Sansour, this multifaceted exhibition is designed to transport audiences on an uplifting journey across many landscapes, digging beneath the surface. Across three thematic sections, ‘Life Below Ground’, ‘Life Above Ground’ and ‘Hope – the story of SOIL’ will be one of humanity, providing a record of the transformational marks that geopolitical, economic and social histories leave on the skin of our planet. Each theme aims to present a thought-provoking interpretation, conveying feelings of movement, growth, emergence and life. Social and environmental cues are also poignantly recounted in the exhibition, through works by artists such as Jackie Summell, Annalee Davis, Eve Tagny and Fernando Laposse.
In collaboration with filmmaker Joya Berrow, the Land Gardeners have designed the In-Focus zones, which are interspersed throughout the exhibition. These zones will bring in voices of scientists and other experts, to give further clarity on key concepts of soil. Artists such as Herman de Vries, Miranda Whall, Ana Mendieta, Sam Williams aim to illustrate soil as being a great interconnector by encapsulate the precarious symbiosis of human, non-human and soil.
Other artists participating in the exhibition include: Anya Gallaccio, Asad Raza, Asunción Molinos Gordo, Clare Richardson, Daro Montag, Diana Scherer, Fatima Alaiwat, France Bourely, Harun Morrison, Howard Sooley, Jim Richardson, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Jo Pearl, Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck, Ken Griffiths, Kim Norton, Lauren Gault, Maeve Brennan, Marguerite Humeau, Mariana Heilmann, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Michael Landy, Mike Perry, Theo Panagopoulos, Tim Cockerill and Elze Hesse, and Wim van Egmond.
SOIL: The world at your feet exhibition takes place at the Embankment Galleries at Somerset House, in London and runs from the 23rd of January – 13th of April 2025.
Further information and booking details, can be found here.