Zoos are often presented as spaces of conservation and education, yet they also function as environments of controlled display and entertainment. On Display is a documentary project that emerged from my growing interest in how animals are encountered within captive environments, aiming to reveal the structures that mediate human-animal relationships. Inspired by John Berger’s essay, Why Look at Animals? (1980), I aim to invite the viewer to reflect on how spectatorship within captive spaces mirrors the broader alienation between humans and animals, creating an imbalance in the act of looking.

The project is divided into three sections: Architectural Display of Animals (how spaces are constructed for human observation), Acts of Viewing (how we watch and encounter animals within captive spaces), and Empty Enclosures (questioning how spectatorship persists even in the absence of animals).