Robert Zhao Renhui (born 1983 in Singapore) is a contemporary visual artist who works mainly in photography but often adopts a multi-disciplinary approach, presenting images together with archival documents and objects in the form of textual and media analysis, video and photography projects. His artistic practice investigates human's complex relationship with nature, layering historical narratives with fiction and fantasy, to invoke doubts in his audience towards the concept of truth and its portrayal. In 2008, he founded the Institute of Critical Zoologists (ICZ),Kastner, Jeffrey. Openings: Zhao Renhui. Artforum, 50, No. 8, April 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2023. under which he operated for a number years. Together with Haeju Kim, Senior Curator at Singapore Art Museum, Zhao represented Singapore at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2024.Singapore Pavilion: 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Singapore Art Museum. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
Education and personal life
Growing up, Zhao picked up photography with his father's film camera, taking photographs in school and creating ghost photographs by drawing on the negative before printing them. He realised the potential of photography as a medium for storytelling when his classmates believed the apparitions were real. He also attributes his interest in nature to his father, who only watched National Geographic and Discovery Channel programmes and kept bonsai plants and fish at home.Sing, Melissa G. Inside the Curious World of Robert Zhao Renhui. Tatler Asia, February 24, 2016. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
Zhao studied at Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore,Tsai, Sylvia. The Origin of Invented Species: Robert Zhao Renhui. ArtAsiaPacific, May/Jun 2014. Retrieved September 21, 2023. before pursuing photography in the United Kingdom. He obtained a bachelor of arts from the Camberwell College of Arts in 2008, University of the Arts,Bauer, Ute M., Karin Oen, Boon Hui Tan, Calvin. Sea: Contemporary Art in Southeast Asia, 219. Berlin (Germany): The Institutum and Weiss Publications, 2022. and graduated cum laude with a master of arts from the London College of Communication, United KingdomA Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the World by Zhao Renhui. Singapore International Photography Festival. Retrieved September 15, 2023. in 2011.
Career Zhao founded ICZ in 2008, in his final year at Camberwell. A fictional scientific research organisation that exists as a website, it "aims to develop a critical approach to the zoological gaze, or how humans view animals."Mission. Institute of Critical Zoologists. Retrieved September 7, 2023. Following its creation, Zhao operated under its name, creating projects presented in a pseudo-scientific format, using scientific language and its modes of classification. In doing so, he questions the objectivity of and our trust in scientific journalism.Robert Zhao Renhui. Yerba Buena Center For The Arts. Retrieved September 7, 2023. He also challenges historical narratives, conventional modes of knowledge production and the way we consume and perceive information by blurring and merging reality with fiction to evoke new perspectives on human's relationship with nature. In 2009, Zhao founded another fictitious organisation, The Land Archive (TLA), that is "dedicated to the spread of knowledge about how a nation's lands are utilised and perceived." Similarly to ICZ, TLA questions historical narratives by layering them with fiction and fantasy to create or facilitate new, alternative ones. As We Walk on Water (2010–12) is one such project developed under TLA, as an investigation into land reclamation in Singapore and its implications.As We Walk on Water. ARTMargins 4 no. 2 (2015): 64–79. Retrieved October 9, 2023. Zhao's investigation into the impact of human action and intervention on the natural environment are further informed by research conducted and residencies undertaken around the world. Examples of such projects include The Whiteness of a Whale (2010) on the whaling culture in Japan, from his residency at Fukuoka Asian Art Museum; The Glacier Study Group (2011) on the melting of glaciers and its impact on the surrounding Arctic flora and fauna, from his residency at The Arctic Circle, Norway;The Glacier Study Group. Institute of Critical Zoologists, 2013. Retrieved September 11, 2023. and Flies Prefer Yellow (2014) on insects and insect traps from his residency at Kadist, San Francisco, where he visited the insect lab at the California Department of Food and Agriculture and tracked, observed, collected and catalogued insects encountered during his time in California.Robert Zhao Renhui: Flies Prefer Yellow. Kadist, 2014. Retrieved September 13, 2023. Stemming from his interest in collecting all things bizarre, objects found during his travels as well as animal memorabilia and souvenirs purchased online or in gift shops eventually developed into museum projects such as The ICZ Collection that highlight overlooked species, or found their way into his "cabinet of curiosities" installations, such as The Bizarre Honour (2017), a natural history museum housing over 300 natural and scientific artifacts. This museological approach continues in The Nature Museum (2017), with iterations in Shanghai at Rockbund Art Museum; and Athens at Onassis StegiFFF5 | The Nature Museum. Onassis. Retrieved October 9, 2023. in 2018. Around this time, Zhao began his exploration of secondary forests, conducting extensive fieldwork in the forest around Gillman Barracks as part of his residency programme at NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore.Robert Zhao Renhui. NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore, 2017. Retrieved September 13, 2023. Queen's Own Hill and its Environs (2019), its title taken from the Barracks' former name,About: Queen's Own Hill and Its Environs. The Institute of Critical Zoologists, 2017. Retrieved September 13, 2023. arose from this exploration. Building on four years of research, The Forest Institute (2022) is an architectural art installation erected in the Barracks. It draws on overlooked narratives, such as the Albizia tree, and offers an intimate (re)discovery of the forest.Toh, Wen Li. Singapore Art Week: A stay at The Forest Institute opened my eyes to nature. The Straits Times, January 24, 2022. Retrieved August 21, 2023. First introduced to Singapore in the 1870s,Sim, Walter. Storm-vulnerable Albizia trees to get the chop. The Straits Times, July 30, 2013. Retrieved September 13, 2023. the Albizia tree is the subject of Zhao's eponymous work: Albizia (2023). An immersive performance installation of a secondary forest, it comprises videos, photography, sound and found objects collected from the forest. Marking the first time his work is presented in a theatre studio and in such a experiential and performative manner, this installation invites audiences to "consider the potential for life and regeneration in these forests on the margins of our island."Albizia – An Immersive Performance Installation. Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, 2023. Retrieved September 13, 2023. In 2024, Zhao presented his decade-long work on secondary forests in Singapore in an extensive installation titled Seeing Forest for the Singapore Pavilion, curated by Haeju Kim, at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. The presentation was accompanied by a complimentary publication co-published by SAM and K. Verlag Berlin. In the following year, Seeing Forest opened to local audience at SAM during Singapore Art Week 2025 and ran for four months.Robert Zhao Renhui: Seeing Forest. Singapore Art Museum, 2025. Retrieved October 10, 2025.
Artworks
A Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the World (2013) A Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the World is a project commissioned by Singapore Biennale 2013: If The World Changed. Responding to this title, the installation seeks to document and reflect upon the impact of human intervention on the natural world, whether by deliberate, direct means, such as square apples in South Korea, or by evolving to adapt to the stresses from their changing environment. Its accompanying publication, designed in collaboration with graphic designer Hanson Ho of H55, is presented as an encyclopaedic dossier in an archival box. Its design won The President's Design Award's Designer of the Year 2014.Design of the Year 2014. President's Design Award Singapore. Retrieved September 14, 2023.
A Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the World has been exhibited around the world including at the Centre of Contemporary Photography, Australia;Annual Report 2015. Centre for Contemporary Photography: 8. Retrieved September 18, 2023. Les Rencontres d'Arles, France;Robert Zhao Renhui: A Guide to the Flora and Fauna of the World. Les Rencontres D'Arles. Retrieved October 9, 2023. and Biel/Bienne Festival of Photography, Switzerland,Preview - Biel/Bienne Festival of Photography - A Guide to Flora and Fauna of the World. YET Magazine, August 24, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2023. in 2015; Chobi Mela IX, India, in 2017;Coming of Age Yet Always Fresh – Chobi Mela IX. Invisible Photographer Asia. Retrieved October 9, 2023. Sunderland Museum and Winter Garden, United Kingdom;Observe, Experiment, Archive. Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens. Retrieved October 9, 2023. and FotoFest, United States, in 2019;Intersect: Technology, Belief, and the Environment. FotoFest. Retrieved October 9, 2023. Center for Book Arts, United States, in 2021;Interspecies Futures [IF]. Center for Book Arts. Retrieved October 9, 2023. and 9th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture, China, in 2022. The set of 64 photographs from this project has been acquired by Tate Modern, United Kingdom.Hoo, Shawn. Singaporean artist Robert Zhao's flora and fauna photographs acquired by Tate collection in Britain. The Straits Times, July 25, 2023. Retrieved September 7, 2023.
Trying to Remember a Tree (2016)
What started as an effort to memoralise the end of life of a young raintree in 2015 turned into an ongoing documentation of trees removal in Singapore, a series that continues till today. Then, when the tree was cut down to make way for construction, Zhao dragged the branches back to his studio, subsequently spending a year photographing every leaf there was. The resulting diptych portraying all 28,017 leaves was exhibited at the Rockbund Art Museum in 2018.
Trying to Remember a Tree III, The World Will Surely Collapse (2017) Commissioned by and first presented at JIWA: Jakarta Biennale 2017, this work features an old and large tree that had collapsed near Zhao's home after a storm. Fourteen photographs line up sections of the tree's trunk on the ground, echoing the way trees are cut for easy removal in Singapore. Yet edited and sequenced from their original, they highlight the contrasting ways in which fallen trees are treated: promptly removed by humans or, allowed to remain as part of the ecosystem in nature.
Trying to Remember a Tree IV, The Time Tree (2019) Commissioned by the National Arts Council's Public Art Trust in commemoration of the Singapore Bicentennial in 2019, the public art installation hypothesises what a 200-year-old tree – responding to the bicentennial anniversary of the founding of modern Singapore – might look like. Referencing Singapore's tallest recorded tree, The Changi Tree (also nicknamed as The Time Tree) which was documented from 1888 and felled by the British in 1942 to prevent the Japanese from using it as a ranging point during World War II,Loo, Adrian and Tan, Hugh TW. The Legend of the Changi Tree. Habitat News. Retrieved September 15, 2023. the work takes the lifecycle of trees – its life, death and renewal – as a marker for time and a new way of reflecting on historical narratives.
Trying to Remember a Tree V, It Takes Time (2021)