This new exhibition is set to bust negative images of the extreme weather phenomenon El Niño, showing the fishing and farming opportunities it has brought to the Sechura Desert in Northern Peru and exploring how other communities might take a similar adaptive approach to the effects of climate change.
'When it Rains, We Harvest' ‘Cuando Llueve, Cosechamos’ has been curated in collaboration with Museum and Gallery Studies MLitt students at the University of St Andrews.
The exhibition draws on the Fenómeno de Oportunidades ‘Phenomenon of Opportunities’ international research project.
Led by organisations on the ground in Peru and UK academia, including the University of St Andrews, the project explores how the extreme rainfall caused by this shifting band of warm water in the Pacific Ocean creates fertile land for agriculture and a lake system supporting a fishing industry in Sechura.
The exhibition includes research equipment, objects, photographs and interview extracts from the project.
Visitors will also see archaeological evidence from the Moche and Chimu cultures, modern-day fishing objects and contemporary artwork by Scottish artist Frances Law.
The exhibition concludes with a look at the more recent challenges of climate change faced by fishing communities in both Peru and North East Fife.
