The Endangered Exhibition: Illustrating Threats to Wildlife

A wildlife portrait series is bringing a splash of colour to the white walls of a gallery in Soho. Though the animals depicted seem proud, their eyes are haloed by shattered glass, betraying a fragility that is mirrored in their natural habitat.
In fact, all of the animals depicted are listed at various levels of endangered, with the “stars” of the exhibition – the Sumatran and Bornean orangutans – are now considered “critically endangered”.
The “Endangered” exhibition opened on 28 June, after a private viewing on Wednesday. Put together in partnership between Zebra One Gallery, artist Dan Pearce and International Animal Rescue, it aims to raise awareness of the issues that these familiar species are facing including hunting, killing, logging of rainforests, and harvesting of palm oil.
“For me switching from portraits to drawing wildlife was a really big change, as my art is very much urban iconic portraits,” Dan Pearce said of the process of creating his art. “but this year I wanted to set myself a challenge to do something different.
“I painted my dad a tiger for Christmas and that’s what started it. I really enjoyed the process and then I decided to carry on and paint a wildlife series, but I wanted to focus on something where I could raise awareness, so from there it became about endangered animals.”
When he posted his pieces on his social media, however, he would put a fact about the animal being painted, why it’s endangered, and he would tag in charities, which had a connection to it, like International Animal Rescue and the orangutan.
The new addition to his artwork is shattered glass, coated in resin. As a mixed media artist, Dan says that he is always experimenting with different materials, and that he started using glass somewhat by accident, but by now he’s learnt how glass shatters now.
“At first, I hand cut shapes in the glass, but it was very clean-cut, and too smooth, so I got a hammer and a chisel and I started smashing it in various places to get it to splinter,” he explained. “That’s when it had a real connection to the piece then.”
Additionally, the glass on the portraits is mostly smashed exactly on the eye, and that’s also intentional: “It always starts in the eye. You’re always drawn to the eye so that’s that’s where I wanted people to notice the glass was smashed, splintered and fragile and sharp. That for me reflects the message of our collaboration.”
Zebra One Gallery has previously done socially-charged exhibitions with the previous one being on mental health awareness.
“It’s been challenging, but it felt great,” said Gabrielle Du Plooy, owner of Zebra One Gallery said, “We got a platform at Zebra One Gallery, so it’s our duty to help and spread awareness. We all have to take care of our environment, this is very dear to our hearts, so yes, here we are.”
While the exhibition itself is fairly small, incorporating 15 artworks, each of the portraits is striking on its own, and together, they send a vital message about their endangered status. It features portraits of endangered species including African Lions, Grevy’s Zebra and Siberian Tiger, Asian Elephant, Giant Panda and ‘Sudan’ the last of the Northern White Rhinos.
“I’m delighted you have come to support us and Dan’s amazing work,” Alan White, Chief exec of IAR said at the opening of the exhibition. “There’s a real problem with palm oil and the orangutans and if we continue the way we are going, in the not-too-distant future we’re not going to have any orangutans left.”
International Animal Rescue an animal charity organisation based in the United Kingdom which works towards animal conservation with hands-on rescue and rehabilitation. It is known for saving more than 800 dancing bears in India, and now works in Indonesia to help the highly Bornean and Sumatran orangutans.
The charity will receive 20% of all sales, which means that with 15 artworks prized at £1995 and several champagne bottles at £95, it’s looking at a five-figure sum raised for the cause.
> Borislava Todorova