The collection
Twenty plates on one wall, hung back through time. Walk along it, stop at any plate and look closer. Every one has a true story behind it.
The wall
Plate 01
The Letter T
Fossils at the foot, standing stones, walled towns, industry, a skyline at the crown.
The story: Reading the layers
Plate 02
The Stacks
A reader on a ledge between shelves of rolls and bound books.
The story: The library that faded
Plate 05
Desert Ruins
A caravan passing below ruined arcades and a pyramid.
The story: A city of caravans
Plate 06
Courtyard
Water poured at a well in an arcaded courtyard; washing on the line.
The story: Rain in the middle of the house
Plate 09
The Pass
A column of people and elephants on a mountain track.
The story: Elephants in the Alps
Plate 14
Sun Temple
Seated colossi under a sun disc whose rays end in hands.
The story: The temple that moved
Plate 17
Waterline
A city above the water and its drowned twin below.
The story: A city on a forest
Plate 19
Sunken
Fallen columns and a statue on the seabed, a boat far above.
The story: The resort that sank
Plate 20
Narrow Street
A shaded street of awnings, stairs and a channel of water.
The story: Water by gravity
Plate 04
Bone Tree
A tree grown from skulls and bones, a lone figure beneath it.
The story: More than one kind of human
Plate 08
Fragment
Half weathered stone, half reconstruction in facets.
The story: Statues in colour
Plate 16
Inscription
A figure cutting signs into a rock face.
The story: Writing, more than once
Plate 18
Torchlight
A painted mammoth on a cave wall, lit by a raised torch.
The story: Painting by firelight
Plate 03
River
A paddler, hippos in the reeds, elephants and giraffes on the banks.
The story: Hippos in London
Plate 07
Mammoth
A mammoth crossing snow towards a camp with fires.
The story: The last mammoths
Plate 13
Thaw
A hunter beside a boat and a hut; animals on the far bank.
The story: The land under the North Sea
Plate 10
Sphere & Sea
A cratered sphere over a dark sea, one red sail.
The story: The Moon is leaving
Plate 11
Above, Below
A four-legged animal on the shore, a whale beneath the surface.
The story: Whales had legs
Plate 12
Headwaters
A river seen from above, winding through forest and stone.
The story: Cities under the canopy
Plate 15
Deep Forest
Ferns, conifers and an animal drinking at a forest river.
The story: Before flowers
Scroll to walk the wall, or swipe it on a phone. Tab moves from plate to plate; the arrows step one plate at a time. Page Down leaves the wall.
About the plates
The plates are Then & Theory artwork, drawn in facets. Their titles are working titles, chosen to find your way around; they make no historical claim. Each plate's era places it in time as art, not as a record. The facts behind each plate are on its story card, with the sources we checked.