The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts is hosting an exhibition on bats dubbed "Bats!", aiming to explore the creatures' features through a blend of art, science, and popular culture. Packed with a live colony of Egyptian fruit bats, the exhibition is a joint initiative with ExplorationWorks! and Build 4 Impact Inc., and will be going on up until Spring 2024 as per the museum's website.
Janey Winchell, the center's Art & Nature Director, has an affinity to the exhibition, having studied bats during her graduate degree in biology. She reasons the exhibition to be an opportunity to create empathy towards these creatures that usually receive fear. Winchell referred to bats as "genuine allies" and "capeless superheroes", in an interview reported by WBUR. Through the "Bats!" exhibition, Winchell hopes to debunk misconceptions and underline the bats' crucial roles in worldwide ecosystems.
A soundscape crafted by David Yann Robert greets visitors with contemporary artworks, cultural artifacts, and historical depictions of bats at the exhibition. These items, from the museum's collection or loaned from a traveling conservation exhibition, show our intricate relationship to bats throughout history. WBUR suggests an exhibition wall label describing biblical portrayal of bats as "unclean" and "unnatural", possibly sparking today's dread regarding these creatures.
The exhibition includes a compendium of renowned bat-inspired popular culture icons, among them the 1931 film rendition of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" with Bela Lugosi, the contemporary mockumentary series "What We Do in Shadows", and Batman. Beyond the fictional world, real bat species have been represented as well. Visitors get the chance to see and learn about varmints pollinating bats, which essentially maintain ecological equilibrium by managing pests and taking part in the U.S. and the world's pollination process.
Winchell acknowledges the significant threats facing several bat species across the globe, ranging from climate change to deforestation, and white nose syndrome—a disease that has severely impacted the little brown bat population in Massachusetts. Add to that their ill-perceived pest status, leading to human eradication. Winchell hopes the exhibition sparks a perspective change by raising awareness about bats and their critical roles in nature.
The notion of bats isn't negative for all communities; many Asian cultures, for example, symbolize them with good fortune. An installation of around 300 paper bats folded by origami artist Michael LaFosse is highlighted in the "Bats!" exhibition. LaFosse, also a biologist, named the design "Happy Good Luck Bat". He claims understanding bats can ease people's fear towards them, citing WBUR in saying, "What you don't understand, you tend to fear. And if you take the time to do the research, they become less threatening, and even in some cases, just totally lovable."
The "Bats!" exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum aims to enlighten visitors on these fascinating creatures and to stir up appreciation for them. Winchell aspires that through providing a space for people to observe bats in their natural environment, they develop newfound respect for these often misunderstood animals.
