Water Pantanal Fire: Free Photography Show at the Science Museum
One of the most affecting exhibitions in South Kensington this spring costs nothing and takes under an hour. Water Pantanal Fire, at the Science Museum on Exhibition Road, sets the beauty of the world's largest wetland against the wildfires that have scarred it. It has been open since February and closes on 31 May, so the Easter crowds having thinned makes now a good time to see it.
What the Pantanal is
The Pantanal covers around 151,000 square kilometres in Brazil and stretches into Bolivia and Paraguay. It is home to jaguars, howler monkeys, caiman and marsh deer, and it depends entirely on its seasonal floods. In 2020, fires burned 26 per cent of the region and killed an estimated 17 million vertebrates, and another major wildfire followed in 2024. The exhibition is built around that tension between water and fire, and around the wider threats the region faces from deforestation, intensive farming and climate change.
Two photographers, one argument
The show brings together 65 photographs by two leading Brazilian photographers. Luciano Candisani focuses on water and aquatic life, while Lalo de Almeida documents the fires and drought. Curator Eder Chiodetto has placed the two bodies of work side by side, so that the lushness of one makes the devastation of the other hit harder. The images span 2010 to 2024. It is a compact show, but the pairing is powerful, and the photography is of a standard you would expect to pay to see.
The exhibition is produced by Documenta Pantanal and is part of the UK/Brazil Season of Culture 2025 to 2026, organised by the British Council and Instituto Guimarães Rosa. This is its first showing in the UK, as part of an international tour. The Science Museum's own blog post on the exhibition explains the background in detail, and Time Out's listing gives a quick overview.
What to know before you go
- Price: free, with no separate ticket. Entry is covered by free museum admission.
- Hours: the museum is open daily from 10am to 6pm.
- Content: some images, including dead animals, may be difficult for younger or sensitive visitors.
- Time needed: around 45 minutes to an hour.
Make a day of it
The exhibition pairs naturally with the rest of Exhibition Road. The Natural History Museum next door offers more of the natural world, and the V&A is a few minutes further along Cromwell Road. With general admission free at all three, a full South Kensington day need not cost anything beyond lunch.
It is also a timely reminder, as the Chelsea Flower Show season approaches, that the natural world celebrated in London's gardens is under pressure elsewhere. For families, it is an accessible way into a serious subject, and the wildlife photography alone will hold the attention of older children.
Getting there
The Science Museum is on Exhibition Road, SW7, a short walk through the pedestrian subway from South Kensington station, or about fifteen minutes on foot from Knightsbridge via Brompton Road. Find more free days out in our things to do guide.
