Rhinos Don’t
Grow on Trees

Rhinos Don’t Grow on Trees is a work about value: how we assign it and how we pursue it.

Layered both physically and metaphorically, an endangered animal is enveloped in currency, its horns covered in gold. The work examines the tension between what is deeply sacred and what is transactional, reflecting our tendency to look at the world and see not simply life, but what we can extract from it. It becomes something to possess, trade, or consume.

The golden horn embodies this inquiry. Its preciousness honors the animal itself while reflecting the monetary and symbolic value humans have projected onto it. What makes the rhino precious in human eyes can also become a reason for its destruction.

Yet money itself remains unresolved. It can finance exploitation or preservation, destruction or repair. What appears to consume the rhino may also protect it.