Natural History 1997

Curator: Malcolm Morley created this artwork, titled "Natural History", in 1997 using acrylic on canvas. What's your initial take? Editor: My first thought is the muted palette evokes a sense of subdued tension, like nature holding its breath before something happens. The juxtaposition of the zebra and the snake makes me uneasy. Curator: Yes, those color choices work to set a specific tone. Looking closely, I see both creatures painted in analogous earth tones, which harmonizes them but perhaps also hints at the subtle balances within nature itself. Notice the almost cartoonish rendering of the snake’s head compared to the more defined stripes of the Zebra. Editor: And to me that choice amplifies that feeling of tension I mentioned. The snake coiled in the tree is a loaded symbol: historically, it’s a figure of betrayal, and more specifically, anxieties of invasion and control. It threatens the social order we often project onto the "natural" world. This challenges how we usually frame the landscape and animals in Western art and broader social terms, particularly during a moment when the impact of humans on the natural world had become a critical issue. Curator: Interesting point! And, if we read the zebra as symbolic, the contrast of its orderly stripes and passive posture against the snake’s chaotic patterns might suggest different responses to environmental threat: conformity versus confrontation. What is “natural” within such unbalanced scenes? Editor: Right, precisely. Considering Morley’s overall career trajectory, one could argue he's visually dissecting our impulse to control and categorize, pushing back against our historical need to domesticate even supposedly wild subjects like these. This is very much in line with critical discourses on gender, race, and politics emerging at the time he created this image. Curator: These dualities reveal a more complex interpretation of this "Natural History" then, shifting from simple depiction to active commentary on our relationship with the natural world and with ourselves. It all gives me much to consider. Editor: Exactly, me too. There's definitely much more to unpack within the quiet, unsettling conversation this image stages for us.