Fire Fire Rhino!
Fire Fire Rhino: A Creative Uprising to Burn the Myths Fueling Rhino Extinction
In the arid silence of the South African bushveld, a different kind of fire burns — not of destruction, but of rebirth. Fire Fire Rhino, the latest visual campaign from Rhino Disharmony, emerges as both protest and poem. Conceived as a visceral act of myth-burning, it reframes conservation through the lens of fashion, film, and evocative storytelling.
Shot over three days at Motswari Private Game Reserve, the campaign features ash-toned couture, smouldering landscapes, and models traversing terrain scarred by poaching. Each image dares viewers to confront the brutal beauty of resistance, guided by an all-female creative force — photographer Sara Wilson, stylist Carolin Herling, and designer Andrea Zuckerman — who transform trauma into visual testimony.
“Rhino horn is just keratin,” reads the campaign’s closing frame. “No different from hair. From nails. From lies.”
Visual Activism as Emotional Intelligence
While statistics remain critical, Fire Fire Rhino speaks a more instinctual language — one designed to stir the soul before persuading the mind. “Facts can be ignored,” says Marion Geiger, founder of Rhino Disharmony. “But when art strikes an emotional chord, it becomes unforgettable.”
This emotional persuasion is pivotal in a world where belief, not logic, continues to fuel extinction. Demand for rhino horn is sustained by myth — and it is this myth Fire Fire Rhino aims to incinerate.
A Species on the Brink
Kruger National Park’s nearly 80% decline in rhino population since 2014 paints a stark reality, even as conservation teams fight to protect what remains. Yet Fire Fire Rhino offers hope not in numbers, but in stories — in rallying the global creative community to dismantle demand through cultural disruption.
Legacy and Continuation
The campaign follows Rhino Disharmony’s lineage of activist art, from youth-driven design workshops in collaboration with Lalela to education programs rooted in cultural dialogue. Each initiative builds not just awareness, but emotional engagement — pushing the conservation conversation beyond facts and into the realm of identity and belief.
A Call to Create
More than a moment, Fire Fire Rhino is a movement. It invites designers, influencers, journalists, and dreamers to use their platforms to rewrite the narrative. To speak loudly. To spark globally.
Because extinction is not inevitable. It’s a silence we choose. And art — audacious, burning, wild — has never been silent.
