
Biophilia: Our Longing for Nature
Pence Gallery 212 D Street, Davis, CA, United StatesPENCE GALLERY. Artists for millennia have reflected upon nature as the inspiration & subject of their work. Our affiliation with animals, plants, & the wild spaces of our world is defined as ‘biophilia,’ or love for living things. Twentieth-century naturalist E.O. Wilson offered the theory that humans are ‘hard-wired’ to build a complex relationship with the natural world in his book Biophilia (1984). In our 21st century world, the question is how do we build relationships with a natural world that is under threat from climate change, habitat destruction, and other forces?