Narratives of the natural world

Fashioning stories about nature

Featured in

  • Published 20231107
  • ISBN: 978-1-922212-89-4
  • Extent: 208pp
  • Paperback, ePub, PDF, Kindle compatible

In the work of award-winning Singaporean artist Robert Zhao Renhui, fact and fiction have a complicated relationship. Renhui’s extensive and varied practice – which includes photography, video installation and even a fictitious research organisation called the Institute of Critical Zoologists – explores how knowledge and narrative shape the way we view the natural world and the non-human species we share it with. While his projects often engage with issues surrounding conservation and ecology, they also remind us of the mystery and magic inherent in the animal kingdom and the fallibility of our attempts to understand it.

CARODY CULVER: Tell me about how you came to be an artist. Were you always drawn to photography as an artistic medium?

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

If you are an educator or student wishing to access content for study purposes please contact us at griffithreview@griffith.edu.au

Share article

About the author

Robert Zhao Renhui

Robert Zhao Renhui is a Singaporean artist whose work has been widely exhibited internationally. He has received several prizes, including the Deutsche Bank Award...

More from this edition

A life with horses 

In ConversationIn 2011, I was invited to a writers’ retreat in Santa Fe. It was held on a lovely old ranch with beautiful horses – Western Paints, Appaloosas – and one of the wranglers noticed me admiring them and invited me on a trail ride. It was an ecstatic experience.

Into the void

Non-fictionI think with a little fear, as I often do, of the many other (and much larger) creatures whose natural territory this is, and scan the surrounding water for any dark, fast-moving shadows. But soon I relax and settle into the rhythm of my freestyle stroke. Breathe. Pull. Pull. Pull. Breathe. Pull. Pull. Pull. Breathe.

Fly on the wall

In ConversationAnimals are extremely important and extremely neglected in our public discourse. We’re not even paying enough attention to human rights and human justice issues, and we’re paying next to no attention to non-human rights and non-human justice issues. That doesn’t mean that we don’t care – people do care about animals, and they want animals to have good lives – but we’re either unaware of or unwilling to acknowledge all the pain and suffering that animals experience as a result of human activity.

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.