Lunch at this zoo, 2025
acrylic and mixed media on canvas,
(H) 120 × (W) 100 × (D) 2 cm
These paintings address vulnerability through the dialogue of species conservation and cultural symbolism. They depict pandas in zoos and enclosures, questioning how these animals, celebrated as treasures, are both protected and commodified. Their existence is tightly managed, bred, displayed, and branded, exposing the tension between preservation and spectacle.
The panda’s widespread popularity reveals how human behaviour constructs narratives of rarity and value while the species itself survives only through zoo keepers, researchers disguised as giant pandas, artificial habitats and global diplomacy. Within this uneasy coexistence lies a honest reflection on our ecological condition, the fragility of life sustained by intervention, and the emotional distance created by spectacle.
By centering the panda as both subject and metaphor, the works speak to broader environmental realities, the destabilisation of ecosystems, the psychological toll of living amid environmental loss, and the sense of isolation that arises from witnessing nature’s decline. The panda becomes a quiet emblem of our collective crisis, beloved yet endangered, iconic yet confined, reflecting the complex entanglement between human care, control, and the changing climate that binds us all.
The panda’s widespread popularity reveals how human behaviour constructs narratives of rarity and value while the species itself survives only through zoo keepers, researchers disguised as giant pandas, artificial habitats and global diplomacy. Within this uneasy coexistence lies a honest reflection on our ecological condition, the fragility of life sustained by intervention, and the emotional distance created by spectacle.
By centering the panda as both subject and metaphor, the works speak to broader environmental realities, the destabilisation of ecosystems, the psychological toll of living amid environmental loss, and the sense of isolation that arises from witnessing nature’s decline. The panda becomes a quiet emblem of our collective crisis, beloved yet endangered, iconic yet confined, reflecting the complex entanglement between human care, control, and the changing climate that binds us all.