Join us in the Naughton Gallery to view some wonderful exhibitions from international artists. AVANT GARDENER explores how artists reimagine our relationship with nature in a rapidly changing world.

From lush landscapes to post-apocalyptic dreamscapes, these works consider how the human body and experience are framed within the natural world, at once part of it, and apart from it. Through humour, pop-cultural references, and cinematic echoes, the exhibition invites us to look anew at the environments we inhabit, cultivate, and sometimes destroy.

In an age shaped by climate anxiety and ecological awakening, the exhibition brings together local and international artists whose works probe the intersections of art, activism, and sustainability. Drawing inspiration from film, mythology, and contemporary media, they reveal nature not as a static backdrop but as a living, evolving presence – one that reflects our fears, fantasies, and fragilities.

From forests that serve as sites of protest to parks reclaimed as spaces for intimacy, and from rituals of foraging to playful approaches to environmental storytelling, AVANT GARDENER examines how contemporary artists are tending to new growth – cultivating visions of connection, care, and resistance, and exploring how we continue to find meaning, pleasure, and purpose in the natural world.

AVANT GARDENER forms part of REACH 26, Queen’s University Belfast’s annual arts and sustainability festival, and continues the Naughton Gallery’s commitment to showcasing bold, thought-provoking work that speaks to the world we share.

• The exhibition will be on display until the end of May.