100 life-size Indian elephant sculptures migrate through the Meatpacking District
Photos by Mark Warner
A herd of 100 life-size elephant sculptures has arrived in the Meatpacking District as part of their great migration across America. Hosted by the Meatpacking BID in partnership with Elephant Family USA, the Great Elephant Migration seeks to captivate viewers while raising awareness and money for global conservation efforts. On view through October 20, the sculptures can be seen along 9th Avenue, between Gansevoort Plaza and 15th Street.
The exhibition is one of the largest public art installations in New York City since Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s “The Gates” in 2005. This global fundraising initiative supports indigenous and community-led conservation efforts, providing resources to NGOs that help people who live with lions, leopards, elephants, and other difficult wildlife.
Beyond this, the exhibition is designed to inspire a peaceful existence between animals and humans.
The herd was created by the Coexistence Collective, a community of 200 indigenous artists living in India’s Biosphere Reserve. The group crafted the sculptures out of Lantana camara, an invasive plant species that has reduced food sources for herbivores across 300,000 square kilometers of the country’s forests.
Each sculpture is a recreation of elephants that members of the Collective have known in real life.
The creation of these sculptures provides financial stability, status, and pride to 200 members of the Soligas, Bettakurumbas, Kattunayakan, and Paniyas tribes, who share their land with the elephants that inspired the herd.
Since their first stop in Newport, Rhode Island, on July 4, the herd has already raised $1 million, aiming for a total of $10 million in the United States. The initiative is the largest sustainable indigenous enterprise in India.
Co-presented by Art&Newport and curated by founder Dodie Kazanjian, the herd’s headquarters and shop will be located at 423 West 14th Street during the installation.
Throughout the Meatpacking District, the sculptures will be joined by additional artworks, including a multidisciplinary installation by artist Hadi Falapishi at 82 Gansevoort Street later this month, and a photography exhibition by Michael Turek at 423 West 14th Street from October 18 to 20.
“After months of anticipation, the herd has officially arrived in the Meatpacking District! With thanks to all the city agencies that helped make this possible, we are thrilled to welcome this striking installation that helps spread the message of coexistence to all who visit,” Jeffrey LeFrancois, executive director of the Meatpacking District, said.
“Seeing these life-size sculpted elephants along the storied cobblestone streets is stunning, and if you listen closely, you might even hear a trumpet. It also shows what is possible when creative communities come together to shape an extraordinary moment in time that produces an image just as powerful as the message behind the installation.”
With help from High Line Stages, further programming, events, and activities will take place in the Meatpacking District through late October to celebrate the Great Elephant Migration.
On September 10, the BID will host a panel at the Maker’s Studio at Chelsea Market diving into key themes surrounding conservation and coexistence called “Coexistence and Community From Nilgiris to New York.”
The discussion will push audience members to rethink traditional ideas of conservation that separate wildlife from the human world and instead think of humans and animals living on a single integrated “gradient of coexistence.”
Additionally, officials from the Meatpacking District, Coexistence Collective, and Elephant Family USA will host an event that explores innovative conservation approaches that embrace this notion of humans and animals coexisting. The event is free and open to the public, and more details can be found here.
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