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Over three months in 2017, Kirsten Brophy visited Sudan, Najin and Fatu – the only surviving Northern white rhinos in the world – at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya before the last male of the subspecies, Sudan, died this past March. Fatu, front, and Najin graze in a paddock on March 20, 2018.TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images

You may not remember every family vacation, but you never forget the one where you were nearly trampled by buffalo.

Toronto- and New York-based artist Kirsten Brophy first visited Kenya and Tanzania with her father when she was eight years old. “It was the first time I experienced a life lesson from something other than a human,” she says. They saw lions mate and a cheetah cub killed and were almost run down by stampeding buffalo. It instilled in her the sense that humans are just a small part of life on this planet.

The passions stirred on that trip brought her to South Africa years later to study its fauna more closely. Alongside her art practice, the 25-year-old Oakville, Ont., native is also a certified professional safari guide, conducting eco-friendly wildlife tours in Botswana, South Africa and Kenya. She has dedicated her guide work, as well as her artwork in film, painting, sculpture and photography, to wildlife conservation.

During her time in the field, Brophy developed a particular interest in the plight of the rhinoceros. Over three months in 2017, she visited Sudan, Najin and Fatu – the only surviving Northern white rhinos in the world – at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya before the last male of the subspecies, Sudan, died this past March. Those “calm, gentle creatures,” as she calls them, have become both her muse and her mission.

While at Ol Pejeta, she took their pictures. Not because they’re on the brink of extinction, she says, but because she was struck by their unique beauty. She focused on the females, taking close-up of their heads and hind legs, the folds of their skin – all the features that differentiate the animal from its southern cousin.

Brophy also filmed a brief scene with Sudan, who was then already sick, for the short film titled M’ilima that she dedicated to the rangers of Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, a renowned sanctuary in Northern Kenya that Brophy’s work often benefits. “M’ilima” is a Kiswahili word for “mountain,” representing the animal’s keratin horn as well as the size of the threat it’s facing.

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Sudan, the last known male northern white rhino, seen in his paddock in December, 2016, died in Kenya at the age of 45, his keepers announced on March 20, 2018.TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images

Because of the illegal horn trade, African and Asian rhinos have been poached almost to extinction. Protection and conservation measures have successfully stemmed decline in many populations. The southern white rhinoceros, for example, has become the most abundant subspecies of rhino on the planet after near decimation by hunters at the beginning of the last century.

But poaching has again intensified. According to the South African government, last year, more than 1,000 rhinos there were killed by poachers. Historically, the horn was used in traditional Chinese medicine. More recently, Vietnam has become the largest market for illegal horn, where it’s viewed by some as a status symbol, supposed to cure everything from a hangover to cancer.

Brophy remembers the first poached carcass she encountered. “It shakes you,” she says. “They come in and chop off the front of [the animal’s] face. It’s one of the most unfair and cruel acts.”

She once thought advocacy and awareness were the goals of her mission. (For many, the death of Sudan was their first notice that Northern white rhinos were endangered at all). Now, taking action feels most urgent. Brophy hands out conservation literature and accepts donations for Lewa at her exhibitions. A portion of her art sales are routinely donated there.

It shakes you. They come in and chop off the front of [the animal’s] face. It’s one of the most unfair and cruel acts.

Kirsten Brophy, Toronto- and New York-based artist

Brophy is currently at work on a suite of oil paintings to be displayed at Marc Francl Gallery during the Cannes Film Festival. A panel picturing two black rhinos posed in front of Mount Kenya might fetch a few thousand dollars for the Conservancy. They need funds for fencing, veterinary bills and ranger equipment, Brophy says. The costs are considerable. While her safari-guide services might better generate money, her art provides the opportunity for more people to support the cause, with affordable offerings such as art books and hand-sculpted candles.

When she last visited Ol Pejeta, the team there was focused on the two surviving females and a complicated in-vitro fertilization treatment involving a surrogate from a related subspecies. The mood was optimistic, she says, but in no way does such a procedure guarantee a successful Northern white rhino birth.

“The death of Sudan has become a symbol,” she says. “It’s an example of what can happen to the next species – maybe the Javan or the Sumatran rhino, both critically endangered – if things don’t change.”

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