Growing up in Australia, I was this weird kid who was really obsessed with science and the natural world. I felt the natural world understood me, if the human world did not.
Zinnia Kumar is a trouper. We’re talking logistics for the shot of her hanging, koala-like, from a eucalyptus tree, when she casually mentions the extreme allergy to eucalyptus that ended her fieldwork career as an ecologist in Australia. Why put herself through it again? To highlight the plight of actual koalas which, she tells us, face extinction unless their conservation is urgently prioritised. This is just the kind of job she is seeking out now she manages her own career through the London-based agency she co-founded, The Dotted Line.
If you’re a world leader and you want to meet Australian wildlife, you call respected conservationist Al Mucci. Al consulted on this shoot at three locations along Australia’s Gold Coast: Coombabah Lakelands Conservation Area, which Al tells us is home to 274 species, “including the koala, powerful owl, grey-headed flying fox and a large population of eastern grey kangaroos that Zinnia got close up with”; Paradise Country, a wildlife park where you can hold some of the 40 koalas; and Currumbin Rock, “a pristine area of coastline dominated by people surfing” – and just for us, Aussie-Indian stunner Zinnia Kumar cosplaying as a sunset.
First things first: what was it like to hold a koala for this shoot?
Holding the koala was a dream come true and it felt much more respectful holding it at night as it is a nocturnal animal. This particular little one had been born four generations in captivity as part of the breeding conservation program at Paradise Country. You can’t hold koalas in the state of New South Wales, only in Queensland. I do feel a little weird about holding it, but I think if I hadn’t, and we didn’t create such striking imagery, the conversation as to the koala going extinct wouldn’t come up through the lens of fashion as a vehicle of change.
What do you want people to know about the situation koalas are facing?
Koalas are facing extinction by 2050. There may be as few as 32,000 left, in rapidly declining fragmented populations across Australia, which has the highest current deforestation rate of any western country. Quite frankly it’s disgusting that the government continues to allow it. Coombabah Lake Conservation Park, where we shot, borders residential housing and was destined to be cleared. It was the efforts of the local residents, versus the government, which turned the site into a conservation area. But despite being protected, 90 koalas have been killed there in the last 12 months, by cars and pet dogs, a 50 percent population decline.
Have you always had a passion for nature and wildlife?
Growing up in Australia, I was this weird kid who was really obsessed with science and the natural world. I felt the natural world understood me, if the human world did not. I didn’t really have any friends, but I used to have loads of chickens. So I would hang out with them (which I still do today in London; I keep chickens near Epping Forest) and I used to paint a lot. My dream was to be a botanical illustrator or a conservationist. I was obsessed with David Attenborough documentaries.
How did you go from being a kid who loves nature to being an actual ecologist?
I don’t think it was planned that I would end up doing ecology, because I didn’t think I was smart enough to get into university. When I was at school, I always told teachers I wanted to be a rubbish collector, because I wanted to clean the environment around me. At one point, my science teacher kept me back after class and said, “You do realise you can do anything, right? You can go to university, you can be a scientist.” I remember when she said that, to this day, because it was the first time in my life anyone was telling me I could do something bigger than what I’d imagined. My high school was actually the lowest-ranked school in the state. So it was kind of like no one was even expected to go to university.
I applied for a course in ecology and environmental science and I got in. And that’s how I ended up doing conservation, because once I got in, I was like, “OK, I know exactly what I want to do with this.” And it led me to working for the Department of Environment, the Environmental Protection Authority, where I was working with bird conservation, BirdLife International and all of these different projects.
What kind of projects did you work on?
One of the most memorable was on Bowen Island with little blue penguins. We were doing a survey and microchipping them and checking the microchips to see who’s been there the longest, who’s a new recruit to the island or who’s had a baby. It was really cute. The way we did it was we created this really small fence – maybe like, two of my head heights. Really short; the penguin itself is a little bit taller than the fence. I don’t know if they were a bit stupid or that’s just what they do: they hit the fence and casually walk into this huge circle and we just pick them up. It was wonderful how easy it was. I think definitely being a chicken handler helped, so I was the one tasked with grabbing all the penguins and checking them.
Alongside environmental issues, you have also been outspoken about the lack of diversity in fashion. In 2017, you called out Australian Vogue for featuring so few Indigenous Australian models and models of south Asian heritage.
I wouldn’t say it was a “call out”: I presented the data to them. I said, “How can you, in 62 years, not have a dark-skinned indigenous person on the cover? It doesn’t make any sense to me. How can you not have a southeast Asian or a south Asian on the cover? This is the largest minority population in Australia.” I wrote it quite academically – I did a statistical analysis – and it was really well received. I started working on the Vogue Values Diversity Council, pushing for more representation, within the magazine and on the cover, of the ethnically diverse country Australia is. And then they said, “We actually think all the stuff you’ve done in your life is quite amazing, we’d love to give you a cover as well.” I wasn’t expecting that! But OK, cool!
You were also the first cover star of Megha Kapoor’s Vogue India (wearing Supriya Lele) and walked in the recent Dior show in Mumbai. How does it feel to have such visibility in India too?
The Vogue India experience was surreal. India has the largest population in the world and the youth culture challenging inequality and redefining their identity is exciting. However, India historically has had strict gender stereotypes. One of the most enduring has been long hair for women, and images of women in short or sexy clothing were historically created for the male gaze. So to be on the cover with short hair and clothing, without it being created for the male gaze, was actually pretty special. I think through that picture we were able to show a different reality, one where the contemporary Indian identity could coexist with the historic one and still convey power and dignity.
When I went to India to walk in the Dior show, someone literally recognised me on the street. I was like, is this happening? And I think that was the moment I realised there is something that I’m doing that’s right, that’s making people feel visible.
Which is also an aim of your agency, The Dotted Line (TDL), right? Tell us more – what are your hopes for it?
To create the world I want to live in, spread joy, belonging and happiness. It’s an impact-driven agency that is a space to tell stories and do projects that I and the team have always wanted to, that push fresh narratives and challenge dogma within the fashion and media industry.
South Asians are the largest minority in the UK, Australia and Canada, yet remain underrepresented in fashion and media at all levels. My collaborators are three other incredible south Asian people, Rohit, Karan and Suri, and TDL is a place where we understand that increased, dignified and fair representation in the market has wider positive impacts on the community.
For example, Suri worked on the viral Burberry ad with a little Sikh boy wearing a turban. Visibility is linked with social belonging and reduction of violence toward marginalised ethnic groups, so if there was more positive media and fashion visibility of Sikhs wearing turbans, we could help eradicate unprovoked violent attacks, which are on the rise in the UK.
We want to push the boundaries of how powerful fashion is when it comes to social and environmental causes, such as this amazing project with More Or Less. Combining koala conservation awareness with fashion – what other publication could I do that with?
Make-up: Nisha Van Berkel. Body art: Shella Ruby Martin. Hair: Lok Lau. Production director: Karan Makol at tdl.studio. Production co-ordinator: Triona Singh at tdl.studio. Location producer: Danial Khalique at tdl.studio. Wildlife director: Al Mucci