A young lion reaching through the rusted chains of his enclosure is a visceral embodiment of Blood Lions’ aim: to expose the cruel exploitation of South Africa’s predator breeding industry.(Photo: Pippa Hankinson) 
The Inside Out Centre for the Arts in Johannesburg is known for confronting uncomfortable truths through powerful visual storytelling, most notably with Roger Ballen’s End of the Game, which explored wildlife exploitation.
This August, the centre continues its bold curatorial direction with Held Captive, a photography exhibition that reveals the harsh realities of keeping and breeding predators in captivity in South Africa and South East Asia.
Featuring some of my work alongside renowned photographers and wildlife advocates, Held Captive presents a curated collection of images that uncover the cruelty, commodification and unethical conditions endured by apex predators often held for profit and entertainment.
Through moving and sometimes disturbing visuals and deeply human moments, the exhibition challenges viewers to reconsider our relationship with wild animals and the cost of keeping them caged.
The exhibition features the investigative work of photographer Karl Ammann, director of the Tiger Mafia documentary, whose images offer a stark look into the captive tiger industry in South East Asia. The exhibition draws a clear link between this and South Africa’s own expanding commercial predator breeding trade.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Ian-michler-1.jpg "This is the face of the commercialisation and brutality of South Africa’s predator breeding and captive hunting industries – a lion commodified, sold into canned hunting. (Photo: Ian Michler)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Wildlife-dealer-in-Tachilek-in-Myanmar.jpg "A wildlife dealer stands in front of his merchandise, trinkets ranging from skins to bones, a collection signifying the cruel exploitation of wildlife for products. (Photo: Karl Ammann)")
Through compelling visual narratives, we document the full commercial lifecycle of big cats, such as lions and tigers, exploited from birth to death for entertainment and profit. Alongside Ammann’s work, the exhibition includes contributions from Blood Lions’ Ian Michler, Pippa Hankinson and Louise de Waal.
By visiting lion farms and captive facilities open to the public across South Africa, the team has uncovered both the explicit and often seemingly innocuous cruelty of captivity.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Stephanie-Klarmann.jpg "A commercial facility deceitfully calls itself a sanctuary. This lion, with mange starting on his nose, stares out of his enclosure no bigger than 20m2, a far cry from the high quality of life provided by genuine sanctuaries of legitimately rescued animals. (Photo: Stephanie Klarmann)")
Exploitation, neglect and severe welfare issues are brought to the fore in images depicting overt cruelty on tiger breeding farms to the less-obvious signs of stress and neglect in animals kept for entertainment. Many of my own images are taken at facilities that have deceitfully called themselves educational facilities and sanctuaries, despite providing little to no education about conservation, nor providing the high standard of care genuine sanctuaries abide by.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/P1070784.jpg "A captive tiger held on a breeding farm is fed small morsels of meat through a fence. Tigers are reduced to breeding stock to ensure a steady supply of body parts and derivatives for the wildlife market. (Photo: Karl Ammann)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Karl-Ammann.jpg "Influencers and private collectors fuel the exploitation of captive predators, turning wild lives into social currency. (Photo: Karl Ammann)")
Held Captive highlights the growing concern about the lack of progress made since the announcement in May 2021 by former environment minister Barbara Creecy, to put processes in place to close the captive lion industry and reverse the domestication of our iconic species – the African lion.
The exhibition calls for more urgency, including a moratorium on lion breeding, the first most impactful step that can be taken to close down the industry.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/FourCorners-133.jpg "Under South Africa’s lion bone export quotas, hundreds of lions were slaughtered each year. Now, despite South Africa’s zero quota on bones, farmers still stockpile skeletons in the hope that the quota will reopen, while others continue to trade illegally. (Photo: Blood Lions)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Wild-animals-should-not-be-kept-in-captivity-Audrey-Delsink.jpg "Wild animals should not be held in captivity. (Photo: Audrey Delsink)")
It presents a vital opportunity for dialogue, urging Minister Dion George to take decisive action on his commitment to end the commercial captivity of lions by implementing a structured phase-out plan of the broader commercial captive predator industry. DM
Following the official launch of Held Captive on 2 August, the exhibition will be open for public viewing to align with World Lion Day. Public walkabouts and school tours will take place with wildlife photographer and Blood Lions campaign coordinator Stephanie Klarmann, for an in-depth discussion on the commercial predator industry and how the public can make a difference.
Booking a guided walkabout or an educational group tour of the Held Captive photographic exhibition is possible for the duration of the event until 20 August 2025.