Not An Alternative

Hold These Truths

• Operation Dinosaur from Mining The HMNS: An Investigation by The Natural History Museum, 2016
  An exhibition at Project Row Houses in collaboration with T.E.J.A.S.
  Courtesy of The Natural History Museum

The conversation around the fossil fuel industry and climate justice undergirds The Natural History Museum, an ongoing project by the collective and non-profit organization Not An Alternative. Operating at the intersection of art, activism and pedagogy, The Natural History Museum is an expansive project that features pop-up exhibitions, a mobile museum, workshops and a robust online presence.

Partnering with local community groups, scientists and museum staff, the project establishes a new space for scientific inquiry, free from the influence of corporate philanthropy, political lobbying and special interests. Through alternative tours, recreations and re-enactments of diorama displays, facts that are often left out of museum pedagogy (due to the economic influence of the fossil fuel and chemical industries) are laid bare. In this reinvention of natural history, contemporary issues of land, water and air pollution find a new platform, where indigenous cultures are presented as thriving and relevant—not sealed in vitrines as historical artifacts.