Essential information
| Type | Exhibitions |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Date and times | Opens 28 November 2025 | 10am-5pm |
| Prices | Free |
Discover how the people of the Marshall Islands are responding to climate change and the legacies of nuclear weapons testing, as seen through the eyes of contemporary artists.
The Marshall Islands are steeped in culture and natural beauty, but the country's recent history has been marked by struggle and survival.
Kõmij Mour Ijin/Our Life is Here at the National Maritime Museum has been co-produced with arts organisation, Cape Farewell. Bringing together the work of ten artists, the exhibition highlights the resilience of the Pacific nation. Their pieces explore themes including displacement, memory and the climate crisis, and were created following a Cape Farewell expedition to the Islands in 2023.
Visit Kõmij Mour Ijin/Our Life is Here, uncover the cultural heritage of the Marshall Islands – and find out how Marshallese communities are responding to our changing planet.
Kõmij Mour Ijin/Our Life is Here runs until 14 June 2026.
Meet the artists
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Michael Pinsky
Michael Pinsky is a British artist whose international projects challenge the status quo on climate change, urban design and societal wellbeing. His ambitious and thought-provoking works are often created in collaboration with local people and resources.
His work has been shown at institutions including Tate Britain, Saatchi Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Chengdu Museum of Contemporary Art.
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David Buckland
An artist, filmmaker, writer and curator, David Buckland is the founder and director of Cape Farewell. He has co-curated climate art exhibitions including eARTh: art in a changing world at the Royal Academy and The Ship: The Art of Climate Change, created in partnership with the Natural History Museum. He has also produced Art from the Arctic for the BBC and Burning Ice for Sundance Television.
His work has been exhibited in galleries including the National Portrait Gallery, Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
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Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner
Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner is a Marshallese poet, performance artist educator and Climate Envoy for the Marshall Islands Ministry of Environment. Her creative practice celebrates her culture’s rich storytelling heritage, while also highlighting the issues that threaten Marshallese life, from the legacy of nuclear testing to climate change.
The author of the poetry collection Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter, Jetñil-Kijiner received international acclaim for her poetry performance at the UN Climate Summit in New York in 2014. Her writing and performances have been featured by CNN, The Huffington Post and National Geographic.
She is the co-founder of Jo-Jikum, an organisation that educates young Marshallese people on environmental issues.
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Tania Kovats
A Professor of Drawing at the University of Dundee, Tania Kovats is an internationally renowned artist whose work explores the socio-political and environmental issues around water. Her work spans sculpture, installation, drawing and writing.
Her works are in public and private collections including Arts Council England, the British Council, the Government Art Collection, Royal Museums Greenwich, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Leverhulme Trust, and the Henry Moore Foundation.
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Alson Kelen
A wayfinder, canoe-maker and traditional sailor, Alson Kelen is the director and founder of Waan Aelõñ in Majel (Canoes of The Marshall Islands). This skills-building programme aims to empower and educate young Marshallese people through canoe and boat building, as well as English and numeracy teaching.
Kelen is the former mayor of Bikini Atoll and is a member of the National Nuclear Commission for the Republic of the Marshall Islands, a body that campaigns for nuclear justice.
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Meghann Riepenhoff
Based in the USA, Meghann Riepenhoff is an artist known for her camera-less cyanotypes, which utilise the waves, rain, wind and sediment. She is fascinated by the nature of humans’ relationship to an impermanent landscape.
Her work has been featured in the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Denver Art Museum, as well as The New York Times, the Guardian and Artforum.
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Debby Schutz
Debby Schutz is a Marshallese artist whose love for drawing and storytelling developed in school. Her work was displayed at the reopening of the National Art Gallery in Fiji, the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture in Hawaii, and has also been exhibited in the Marshall Islands.
Through her paintings, Schutz continues to grow as an artist, telling stories that connect her roots in the Marshall Islands, Chuuk and Kiribati, with audiences around the world.
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Solomon Enos
Solomon Enos is a Native Hawaiian artist, illustrator, sculptor, muralist, game designer and community leader. His work touches on themes such as collective consciousness, ancestry, identity and our relationship with the planet.
He has exhibited at the Honolulu Museum of Art and Queensland Art Gallery. His latest pieces include murals and augmented reality installations for Google and Disney.
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Mark Klett
Trained as a geologist, Mark Klett is a photographer whose practice explores the intersection of places, history and time. He is interested in making new works that respond to historic images.
A Regents Professor Emeritus at Arizona State University, he has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Japan-US Friendship Commission.
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Our partners
Kõmij Mour Ijin/Our Life is Here at the National Maritime Museum has been co-produced with arts organisation, Cape Farewell.