Skye Harris
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
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Skye Harris is a freelance illustrator and writer. She graduated with a degree in Natural History Illustration from Newcastle University. Her core area of study was in illustration but also successfully completed extra electives in creative writing and education. This degree is very unique as it is the only one of it’s kind in Australia.
Skye also volunteers her skills and time to instruct the children’s art workshops at The Hunter Wetlands Centre in the school holidays.
Skye was selected in 2013 to exhibit for the Tina Offler and John Patrick Acquisitive Prize.
Current Works - Baby African Animal Series
Web site - www.skyeharrisillustration.com
ANJAS
From Human Plaything to Playful Young Orangutan
Anjas was just three and a half years old when he was surrendered to International Animal Rescue (IAR) on World Wildlife Day—a symbolic moment for a young orangutan who had been robbed of a wild life.
Kept as a pet in the Kubu Raya region of West Kalimantan, Anjas had been treated like a human child. He was dressed in clothes, bathed with soap, and even had his bottom wiped after going to the toilet. His cage—made of wood and cement—was both his bed and his punishment cell. His diet of rice, vegetables, sweet tea, and milk was severely inappropriate for an orangutan and resulted in a painful rectal prolapse.
Fortunately, Anjas’s life changed the moment he arrived at IAR’s rehabilitation centre in Ketapang. After completing quarantine, he received proper nutrition and veterinary care, and the prolapse resolved. Though he had an old injury to his foot—possibly from something being tied around his toes—he was able to climb and move well.
Anjas entered “baby school” and quickly made friends with other young orangutans like Rocky, Onyo, and Gunung. Though he needed some encouragement to stay in the trees, his playful nature emerged immediately. Wrestling, hair-pulling, and climbing with the group replaced the loneliness of his former life.
Anjas’s journey shows the dramatic transformation possible when compassion meets expert care. Once treated like a toy, he is now learning how to be what he was always meant to be—a wild orangutan.
