What would humans look like inside a museum curated by insects?

Cartoonist and educator Peter Kuper uses art, storytelling and humor to change who appears to be observing whom. A 2026 Pulitzer Prize finalist, Peter has written and illustrated SPY vs. SPY for MAD magazine since 1997, co-founded World War 3 Illustrated and created more than two dozen books, including Insectopolis: A Natural History, Ruins and Wish We Weren’t Here: Postcards From the Apocalypse.

In this episode, we explore whether imagining another creature’s experience can change how we value its life—and what art can make visible that information alone sometimes cannot.

We get into:

The cicadas that captured Peter’s attention as a child

How comics and wordless images communicate across age and language

What a monarch sees when it crosses highways, power plants and human borders

Why humor can help us stay present with frightening environmental issues

The New York City cockroach that revealed how much Peter’s perspective had changed

The overlooked people who helped build our knowledge of insects

Why dung beetles are sacred, ecologically essential and extremely funny

What insects might place inside a museum exhibit about humans

Peter’s exhibition, Monarch’s Journey, opens October 16, 2026, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Explore Peter’s work:

https://www.peterkuper.com/⁠

Follow Peter on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/kuperart/⁠

Learn about Monarch’s Journey:

https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/monarchs-journey⁠

Episode Companion:

Can Art Change How We See Nature—and Ourselves?

What animal have you already placed into a category—and what might change if you looked at it a little longer?

The Wild Quiet is a podcast about nature—and our place within it.

Instagram: @thewildquietpod

Substack: The Wild Quiet Co.