The Hollow Crown Artivism Award

This ceramic piece, incorporating mixed media elements, represents more than just a rhinoceros — the gentle giant of the wilderness — it stands as a symbol of an entire species and its fading presence. The deliberate removal of the horn stands for the absence, mourning, and the permanence of loss. In its place, I have placed decorative elements — gemstones and tassels — to reflect the complex and often conflicting motivations behind dehorning.
In the wild, horns are sometimes removed to deter poachers and ultimately protect the animals. Yet in other contexts, the horn itself becomes a commodity: used in traditional Chinese medicine, presented as a symbol of wealth in parts of Asia, and traded as contraband on the black market. These elements speak to the commodification of life — the transformation of a living being into a vessel of value, status, or superstition.
Traditionally a symbol of power, identity, and survival, the missing horn now becomes a silent testimony to violence and grief — a hollow where something vital once was. This absence echoes not only the trauma of the individual creature but also the existential threat facing the species as a whole.
This work is a visual elegy, and a call to bear witness — to reckon with the deep scars left by human exploitation and to reflect on our participation in the loss of biodiversity.