An art series by Christine Das
Every year, countless wild animals are smuggled across borders, hidden in bags, boxed like objects, silenced for profit. Behind every trafficking statistic is terror, separation, suffering, and the slow erasure of species from the Earth.
SMUGGLES: Cruelty Free Luggage™ confronts this reality through satire.
Using miniature cabin luggage as both symbol and storytelling device, wildlife conservation artist Christine Das transforms the very object associated with transport into a confrontation with conscience. Instead of carrying stolen wildlife, these bags carry drawings, wit, irony, and uncomfortable truths.
This begs a deeper question:
What are we choosing to carry forward as humanity?
At its core, the series challenges the normalisation of wildlife exploitation while inviting audiences into a more humane relationship with the living world. The luggage becomes evidence, protest, memorial, and possibility all at once.
Christine’s message is simple: The only wildlife that belongs in luggage are drawings.
Not living beings.
Not body parts.
Not lives stolen from the wild.
Through art, SMUGGLES: Cruelty Free Luggage™ asks viewers to unpack the consequences of consumerism, cruelty, and disconnection from nature and to re-pack our future with empathy, protection, and responsibility.
Because when wildlife disappears, humans disappear with it.
Christine Das
Malaysian Wildlife Conservation Artist
Christine explores the relationship between humans and the natural world. For over 15 years, she has developed a distinctive visual language of intricate mark-making that reflects both the beauty and vulnerability of wildlife.
Deeply influenced by a reverence for nature and a sense of ecological responsibility, her work moves between celebration and critical reflection, addressing themes such as animal exploitation and the disruption of ecological balance. Through conceptual projects and detailed drawings, she seeks to make space for voices of animals under threat, inviting viewers to reconsider their place in this world.
Christine’s practice extends beyond the studio. She is the founder of BHU-ME, through which she facilitates nature-based creative experiences designed to reconnect people with the Earth. Her workshops and programmes encourage participants to slow down, observe, and engage with nature through drawing as a form of awareness and care.
