Expedition #46

2012 - Photography (Photography)

Robert Zhao Renhui

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Expedition #46 is a work from the series “The Glacier Study Group,” which consists of artists, scientists, activists, and enthusiasts of glacial and polar activity in the Artic Circle to conduct scientific investigation, data collection, and glacier sampling. Recent media attention on global warming and climate change has driven interest in increased glacial activity. The group spends long period of each year in the harsh Arctic environment to acquire in-depth knowledge of these changes while experiencing the landscape firsthand. Expedition #46 presents voyeuristic images of human activity in expansive surreal glacial landscapes to elicit a sense of discovery in the viewer, who travels by-proxy via Zhao’s photographic series. The viewer is able to observe the Study Group’s journey in observing their environment and engage in critical reflection of the varying documentary spectatorship deployed in the visual discourse of environmentalism and scientific research.

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Robert Zhao Renhui’s multimedia practice questions fact-based presentations of ecological conservation and reveals the manner in which documentary, journalistic, and scientific reports sensationalize nature in order to elicit viewer sympathy. Zhao portrays humans as figures curious about their natural environment, which is at times mysterious and unpredictable. Through observing human behavior in front of animals, Zhao’s critical lens examines various modes and preconceived notions of what he calls a “zoological gaze”—the manner through which humans view animals and nature. This perspective challenges the dualistic separation between the human and the non-human worlds. Under the name of a fictional institution, The Institute of Critical Zoologists (ICZ), Zhao’s work creates visual ambiguities that destabilize assumptions about the ways in which images present facts, represent reality, and disseminate truths. Zhao was in residency at KADIST San Francisco in 2014.

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Colors:

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• landscape.n.03
• climate_change.n.01
• exploration.n.01
• scientific_method.n.01
• glacier.n.01
• documentary.a.01