"Exploratory Works: Drawings from the Department of Tropical Research Field Expeditions" opens Friday, April 14. This exhibition brings to light for the first time an archive of images that illustrate the formation of our modern definition of nature. William Beebe (1877–1962) was one of America's greatest popularizers of ecological thinking and biological science. The Department of Tropical Research was pioneering in that, under Beebe’s direction, women were hired as lead scientists and field artists. The exhibit is curated by #MarkDion, Katherine McLeod, and Madeleine Thompson. Dion will construct two installations which take as their inspiration images of the interiors of the DTR field stations. While one of the installations will develop the space of the jungle laboratories, the other will look to the oceanographic workshops. Numerous images in the WCS archive depict the work situations and interior conditions in both the tropical forest field stations and the floating labs of the r...