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Stories

  • In pictures

Tree of life

Ross MacFarlane traces the ideas around Charles Darwin’s famous ‘Tree of Life’, both back to the Bible, and forward to its appropriation by the proponents of eugenics.

  • In pictures

The cinchona tree, malaria and colonisation

Ever since the discovery of cinchona bark as a treatment for malaria in 17th-century South America, the cinchona tree has accompanied European colonisation around the world. Kim Walker tracks the human and ecological impact of this global commodity.

  • Article

Ancestry, privacy and the family tree

Wanting to find out more about her Jamaican grandfather, Tanya Perdikou contemplates DNA testing. But first she has to consider the potential impact of unexpected results.

  • In pictures

From cacao to chocolate

Discover how chocolate morphed from a prized, spiritually significant commodity to a quasi-medicine, and finally to the sweet treat we eat almost daily.

All stories (78)

Images

  • An elaborate tripartite tomb. Scenes and ideograms carved all over the surface. Trees in the background.
  • The bank of a lake in Japan with trees, possibly keyaki trees (Zelkova serrata). Watercolour.
  • A group of trees. Wash drawing.
  • A cross amidst trees and flames
  • Various studies of light on trees. Watercolours.
  • A Chinese lady standing and looking from an open window towards trees in a misty landscape; forgeound, fruit-trees in blossom. Gouache.
  • Kenyan dart-poison including scoring upas trees etc.
  • The maze of trees, emotional cancer journey, artwork
  • Californian redwood trees (Sequoia sempervirens (D.Don) Endl.): group of trees in the Mariposa Grove, California. Colour lithograph by W. H. McFarlane.
  • Group of trees, possibly Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris). Pencil drawing.
All images (2.3K)

Catalogue

All works (4.9K)

Events

  • Performance

Index of Shapes

Malet Street Gardens, Bloomsbury
Past
All events (1)