© Peter Kuper
Opening at the American Museum of Natural History on Friday, October 16,
Wrapping the walls near the Museum’s extensive butterfly research collection in the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, the exhibit explores the challenges monarchs face on their 3,000-mile flight through Kuper’s bold illustrations, accompanied by a video installation of monarchs in motion. By merging art, storytelling, and science, the exhibit brings visitors into the world of these determined tiny travelers.
“Monarch’s Journey invites us to see one of nature’s most remarkable migrations through a new lens,” said Museum President Sean M. Decatur. “This exhibit brings together science and art to offer visitors a vivid and memorable way to experience the monarch’s world, and to reflect on the importance of protecting the habitats that sustain our shared ecosystems.”
Opening around the same time that the annual monarch migration begins every fall, the exhibit illustrates the butterflies’ journey south across fields, forests, cities, and increasingly, over areas transformed by human activity. It can take up to two months for a monarch to complete this treacherous voyage. By winter, monarchs gather in great clusters in the mountain forests of central Mexico to wait out the cold season. Kuper’s illustrations imagine what some of these butterflies might encounter along the way, including the New York City skyline, interstate highways, mining operations in West Virginia, tomato fields in Florida, New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward after flooding in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and the city streets of Monterrey, Mexico.
“Every fall, monarchs begin a journey that is both immense and astonishing: generations of butterflies make their way across North America to the same mountain forests in Mexico,” said Monarch’s Journey Curator Jessica Ware, chair of the Museum’s Division of Invertebrate Zoology. “Their migration reminds us how profoundly connected the natural world is and how we as humans are part of this story, in the choices we make about the land we develop, the plants we grow, and the resources we use. Monarch’s Journey invites us to see this migration not just as a spectacular natural event but as an example of resilience and interconnectedness.”
Monarchs may be among the world’s best-known pollinators, yet the work of many other, less conspicuous insects that keep our planet in balance often goes unnoticed. Insects are crucial not only for pollinating crops, but also decomposing organic matter, aerating the soil, feeding the world's animals, and more. Monarch’s Journey suggests simple ways that visitors can help, including planting native milkweed, a plant that is essential for monarch reproduction, and flowering plants, leaving parts of lawns un-mowed, and avoiding insecticide use.
“From the age of four I have been fascinated by insects. The flash of color from a butterfly’s wings still makes my heart race,” said Kuper. “With Monarch’s Journey, I hope to convey a sense of wonder and appreciation for these tiny marvels that not only visually enhance our world, but are essential to keep the planet functioning.”
From the exhibit, visitors can look through a window into the Museum’s butterfly research collection, which holds more than 1.3 million butterfly specimens. This collection includes thousands of monarchs from around the world and is part of the Museum’s larger scientific collections of more than 30 million specimens and objects, which form an irreplaceable record of life on Earth and inform critical issues including wildlife conservation and the impacts of climate change.
Across from Monarch’s Journey on the Gilder Center’s second floor, the popular Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium offers a complementary experience for visitors in a lush, sunlit gallery with up to 80 species of free-flying butterflies from around the world. Just one floor below, the Solomon Family Insectarium highlights the extraordinary diversity and evolution of insects over 400 million years and explores the critical roles they play on Earth through interactive exhibits, microscope stations, and more.
The Museum store on the Gilder Center’s first floor will offer a unique collection of gifts that celebrate monarchs and other beautiful insect species, including Kuper’s graphic novels, and two numbered and signed limited-edition prints of his work. One print features an original drawing Kuper created exclusively for the Museum.