The Caretakers, on view at the All About Photo Showroom throughout September 2026, presents American photographer Mital Patel's intimate portrait of the fragile relationship between the world's last two northern white rhinos and the people who protect them. The series, winner of All About Photo's September 2026 Solo Exhibition competition, focuses on Fatu and Najin, mother and daughter, who live under 24-hour armed guard at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, where their survival has become inseparable from the rangers, guides, and caretakers who spend their days in their presence.
The northern white rhino is functionally extinct in the wild. Fatu and Najin cannot be returned to their natural habitat, having never known life outside the conservancy. Their future depends on human protection while scientists continue working on assisted reproduction through the BioRescue consortium, which has produced 39 pure northern white rhino embryos as of early 2026. Neither female can carry a pregnancy naturally, so researchers are transferring embryos into southern white rhino surrogate mothers in a race against time. Patel's photographs bring this extraordinary situation into a more intimate frame, looking not at extinction statistics but at the everyday reality surrounding two individual animals known by name.
Patel, an Indian-American wildlife photographer, traveled to Ol Pejeta to document the story and learn from the senior caretaker Zacharia Mutai, who has worked with the rhinos since their translocation from Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic in 2009. The images capture the quiet responsibility of caring for animals whose species has almost disappeared, showing rangers who know their behavior and routines, the anti-poaching K9 unit, and the dedicated team that guards them around the clock. A portion of Patel's art sales supports organizations including WildAid, Tsavo Trust, and Ol Pejeta Conservancy.
At its heart, the project is a record of care: quiet, persistent, and deeply human. The Caretakers offers a different way into a story often told through numbers, asking viewers to look at two individual animals, the people who know them, and the fragile relationship between them. The exhibition remains on view at the All About Photo Showroom through September, presenting work that finds resilience within fragility and documents what conservation looks like when it becomes part of someone's daily life.
Image: © Mital Patel
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