Every year, wild animals are increasingly smuggled across borders, hidden in bags, boxed like commodities, silenced for profit. Behind every trafficking statistic is terror, suffering, slow erasure of species from the Earth…
An art series by Christine Das
Using miniature cabin luggage as both symbol and storytelling device, SMUGGLES: Cruelty Free Luggage™ transforms the very object associated with wildlife trafficking into a a protest, and asks viewers to re-pack our future with empathy, protection, and responsibility.
What are we choosing to carry forward as humanity?
SMUGGLES: Cruelty Free Luggage™ challenges the normalisation of wildlife exploitation while inviting everyone to unpack our relationship with and disconnection from nature.
Because the only wildlife that belongs in luggage are drawings.
Christine Das
Malaysian Wildlife Conservation Artist
For over 15 years, Christine 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
creative experiences designed to reconnect people with the Earth.
Her workshops encourage participants to slow down, observe, and engage with nature through drawing as a form of awareness and care.