Philip Hoare is a writer born and brought up in Southampton, where he still lives. He won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction in 2009 for his book Leviathan or, The Whale.

Alison Turnbull is an artist and has recently completed a residency, funded by the Gulbenkian Foundation, in the Galápagos Islands. Turnbull was born in Bogotá, Colombia, lives and works in London and is represented by Matt’s Gallery, London.

Paul Bonaventura is the Senior Research Fellow in Fine Art Studies at the Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art, University of Oxford.

For the Salon, Philip and Alison were in conversation focusing on their passions and drawing on their recent experiences of the natural world. Paul Bonaventura kindly agreed to introduce the talks and act as an informal navigator across this eclectic spectrum making for an evening of enlightening and informative discussion combined with great food and drink.

Alison has created a limited edition signed print exclusively for the Salon and available through the gallery. Please see our editions page for more details.

We would like to thank all of those who joined us particularlly Alison, Philip & Paul