Don’t dismiss dirt

“Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet”, said Stephen Hawking, encouraging curiosity about the universe and our purpose. But SOIL: The World at Our Feet — a remarkable exhibition taking place at Somerset House in London, UK — reverses this wisdom, and poses the question: what if instead of looking up, we looked down?

Co-curated by Henrietta Courtauld and Bridget Elworthy — who established The Land Gardeners, with a mission to work with gardeners and farmers to research and promote soil health — along with professional curators May Rosenthal Sloan and Claire Catterall, this multisensory exhibition examines the vital role of soil through the lens of art, bringing together a range of works and stories from a globally diverse group of filmmakers, artists, scientists and activists, and touching on topics such as global change, history, waste, justice and sustainability. Arranged into three sections (‘Life Below Ground’, ‘Life Above Ground’ and ‘Hope’), the exhibition aims to showcase the fundamental importance of soil, and prompt the broader public to think of it as more than just dirt. By considering soils’ interconnections with all life, these artworks reveal the wonder and beauty of the unseen.