In the same year Brazil hosts COP30, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Belém, Pará, MASP presents the exhibition Histories of Ecology. This is the museum’s eighth exhibition since 2016 dedicated to exploring diverse, plural, and polyphonic histories. The show is not a direct response to the conference but rather proposes a broader perspective. Moving beyond the undeniable urgency of the climate crisis, the exhibition expands the concept of ecology itself. Through the work of artists, activists, and social movements, it examines the relationships between human and more-than-human beings—a category that encompasses animals, plants, rivers, forests, mountains and fungi.    

The use of the term “ecology” instead of “nature” is, in this context, a deliberate conceptual decision. Unlike conceptions that isolate nature as an entity external to society, ecology is understood here as a relational web, a field of forces in constant transformation. This perspective challenges established dichotomies such as nature/culture, subject/object, and human/non-human. Such an approach resonates with contemporary calls for an “ecological turn” within the humanities and social sciences, which seek to rethink knowledge production by embracing a multiplicity of worlds and ecosystems. 

Featuring artworks by 116 artists, the majority of whom hail from the so-called Global South, Histories of Ecology extends this network to forge alliances between the Global South and North, acknowledging that the climate crisis demands coordinated, solidarity-based, and urgent action. Many of the works reveal not only the devastating effects of colonialism, environmental racism, and global capitalism on bodies, territories, and ecosystems, but also their deep-rooted historical origins.

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