Zhao Renhui, Singapore: The More We Get Together

This series of photographs documents animal traps from different parts of the world. These animal traps serves as a profound metaphorical sculptures that holds a testimony to the constant violence we have against nature. It reflects the stressed relationship between humans and animals with notions of killing, violence and tragedy.
A trap is a representation for the human figure and also the animal. In this sense, it is a metaphor that can exist between human and animals.
"A trap, properly received, is a highly articulate object. It is a miniature dialectic, with the bait as thesis, the snare as antithesis and the bait, trap and victim bundled together, as a glorious and fatal synthesis and confirmation of the exactitude of the logical progression. " - Patrick Frey, on the trap as art.
The traps, highly abstract forms, are conceived over generations of knowledge on animals. They are little objects made with strategies to kill. Often certain traps are created for very specific species according to their habits. The ‘touch’ can be seen here as the ‘touch’ of creation and ingenuity by humans and also, the ‘touch’ of the animals which will unleash different forms of violence upon themselves.
Spring-loaded traps unleashes violence in a split second. Glue traps and other traps releases the violence slowly until the death of the animal.
This series of images treat each trap as an emotionally loaded object. They appear to be very aesthetic forms of sculptures at first glance. The images are captioned according to the scientific name of the animal it is suppose to trap. The audience, when presented with only the name of the animal and the trap, imagines and replays the violence in their minds by trying to configure how the trap works against the animals. The image thus snares the imagination of the viewer with its violence within the boundaries of the photograph.