Current exhibitions

Biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth, provides us with everything that we need to survive and thrive. We are causing the diversity of life on Earth to disappear very quickly and are damaging the Earth's life support systems.

This exhibition will help you learn more about biodiversity through interactive displays, which explain what it is, why it is important to us and how it is under threat.

'Biodiversity: what on Earth is it?' is part of World Museum’s Wild Wild World programme of events for the International Year of Biodiversity 2010. 

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Discover the secret world of plants in Plantastic!, an exhibition for all the family.  Enter a magical realm with giant leafy canopies, massive seed pods, huge root systems and strange man-made trees. Forty exciting interactive displays help explain how we use plants in our daily life and show that plants are essential for the planet’s survival.

An exhibition co-produced by National Museums Liverpool, The Museon (Netherlands), Technopolis, the Flemish Science Centre (Belgium), Bruns (Netherlands) and Le Vaiseau (France).

Find out more about Plantastic!

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Aubrey Williams, 'Hymn to the Sun IV' (Olmec Maya series) 1984
© Estate of Aubrey Williams, All Rights Reserved DACS.

Aubrey Williams is an important modern artist whose paintings resist classification. They include influences and elements as diverse as American abstract painting, Amerindian and Mayan symbols, and the music of Shostakovich. Williams' work reflects the meeting of Atlantic and black Atlantic cultures in Europe, the Caribbean, North America and the Americas.

Presented in collaboration with October Gallery, London and the Aubrey Williams Estate. This exhibition is also part of 'Liverpool and the Black Atlantic', a city-wide series of exhibitions and events.

Find out more about Aubrey Williams: Atlantic Fire

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A small selection of work by Ruth Ball; a well established designer enameller from Southport. Ruth is highly acclaimed for her innovation in enamel as well as her commitment to education work in this specialist area. The display focuses on the various methods of enamelling, demonstrating how traditional techniques can be used in a contemporary way. This includes a new painted piece of the Walker Art Gallery which will become part of the Decorative Art collection. ‘Enamelling’; a ‘how to’ book written by Ruth Ball, is also on sale in the Walker Art Gallery gift shop.

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Detail from the 1987 winner, 'Cow Mutations' by Tim Head

A rare chance to see a selection of the prestigious competition's past winning art works together in one place.

Find out more about John Moores Prizewinners 1957-2006

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'The sense of sight' by Annie Louisa Swynnerton

Tracking the historical changes influencing women artists, this exhibition explores the similarities and differences between the status and careers of women working in different areas within the fine and decorative arts fields as reflected in the collections of the Walker Art Gallery.

A rich variety of work from both recent and contemporary painters and designers such as Paula Rego, Helen Chadwick, Louise Bourgeois and Alison Britton will be shown alongside historic works drawn from the Gallery’s collections. Includes paintings, prints, textiles and ceramics.

Find out more about The Rise of Women Artists

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A Manchu bride, Beijing 1871-2. ©The Wellcome Library

Merseyside Maritime Museum is the first UK venue to show this extensive exhibition of almost 150 photographs by the legendary Scottish photographer and travel writer John Thomson (1837-1921).

The photographs document his journeys through China from 1868 to 1872. Unlike most photographers working in the Far East at that time, Thomson was not a government official, nor a missionary. He was a professional photographer who was fascinated by China. Thomson possessed an open mind and was sensitive to the lives and surroundings of his subjects. He was able to capture people and street life in a most natural way. His photographs therefore form a unique archive documenting 19th century China's landscapes, architecture, people and customs.

Thomson's collection of 650 glass plate negatives is now housed in the Wellcome Library, London. This exhibition of prints from the collection was shown in venues across China in 2009 before coming to Liverpool. 

Find out more about China through the lens of John Thomson 1868 - 1872

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Courtesy of Cunard

This small exhibition takes a light hearted, sensitive look at life on board passenger and merchant ships at a time when homosexuality was illegal, and for gay men there were few places to be safe. Personal stories and mementoes give a glimpse of what life was like for gay men at sea.

Originally shown at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, this exhibition has since been on tour around the country. Tour details are on the exhibition homepage.

The exhibition is currently back at the Maritime Museum. Please note that the end date has not been confirmed and may be extended.

Find out more about Hello Sailor! Gay life on the ocean wave

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Courtesy of David Munden/Popperfoto/Getty Images

An exhibition exploring the relationship between cricket, culture, class and politics and how it can be seen as a legacy of British imperialism and colonialism and, paradoxically, as a means of resistance against it.

Beyond the Boundary explores the story of enslavement and oppression of people from the African Diaspora globally, and their deep connections with cricket.  Through photographs featuring cricketers such as Viv Richards, Paul Adams and Basil D’Oliveira, the exhibition celebrates contemporary players who, by playing within the boundary of the cricket pitch, broke the boundaries of racial apartheid.

Find out more about Beyond the Boundary

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© STOP THE TRAFFIK

An exhibition highlighting the ongoing struggle to combat human trafficking around the world, through the experiences of people whose lives have been affected by this modern day slave trade.

Today millions of men, women, and children are being tricked or transported into slavery across the globe. It is the fastest growing form of organised crime and one of the largest money earners for criminals.

It’s not just someone else, somewhere else. It’s happening right here, right now, across the UK.

This exhibition has been put together by the international coalition STOP THE TRAFFIK in partnership with the International Slavery Museum.

Find out more about Trafficked

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This brand new exhibition of photography taken in one of the UK's oldest and most iconic department stores reveals a world that has been hidden since the fifth floor was closed to the public in the early 1980s. Local photographer Stephen King has beautifully captured the faded glamour of the hair salon, cafeteria and restaurant which were the epitome of style when they opened on Lewis's fifth floor in the 1950s.

Although the floor now remains empty, it was once a bustling hive of activity. The exhibition includes a series of portraits of current and ex-employees in their original place of work, alongside reminiscences of life at Lewis's during that era. Their presence injects life into the spectral setting of the now deserted floor.

Find out more about Lewis's fifth floor: a department story

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Mary fishing c1915 © National Museums Liverpool
(by kind permission of Heather Price)

An exhibition of personal photographs giving a fascinating insight into the life and leisure time of a middle class family at the beginning of the 20th century. 

The family in the photographs are the Urtons of Bebington on the Wirral – Jack, the keen amateur photographer, his wife Biddy, and their young daughters Mary and Lois.  They show the family at home and in the garden, relaxing with relatives and friends.  Days out to New Brighton and the Wirral coast are recorded, along with trips further afield including excursions into the Derbyshire countryside.

From these pictures we can also learn about the world of the amateur photographer in the early 1900s, and understand more about the significance of the still relatively new medium of photography during that time.

Find out more about An Edwardian Family Album