Making a trunk call about new sculptures
ASERIES of magnificent life-size sculptures of Asian elephants have been placed on the Bathurst Estate in Cirencester.
The sculptures were created by a collective of artists, tribals and conservationists in the jungles of southern India as part of the Coexistence campaign, an environmental art initiative to raise awareness about the impact of humans on the natural world.
They are made out of Lantana camara, an invasive weed first introduced by British tea planters in the 1800s, which is choking the forests of Asia and destroying natural habitats, and have been in production for four years.
Coexistence was formed by conservation charity Elephant Family and the Real Elephant Collective, and the campaign will see 125 of these sculptures migrate through the Royal Parks in London throughout next summer.
The exhibition will mark the occasion of the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) scheduled for May 2021, which plans to negotiate a new global framework to safeguard all life on Earth.
The sculptures have been temporarily homed across the country by the Duchess of Cornwall, who established an elephant adoption agency to provide temporary residences for these sculptures ahead of their debut in the Royal Parks next summer.
The funds raised from the sales of these elephant sculptures will go towards finding solutions to the conflict between humans and wildlife across the world. In India, this is a conflict that on average ends in the death of one elephant and one person, every day.
Lord and Lady Bathurst have joined the likes of the Duchess of Cornwall in championing the campaign and doing what they can to raise awareness, including bringing a number of these elephants to the grounds of the Bathurst Estate.
Lady Bathurst said the sculptures carried “an incredibly important message” and encouraged everyone to remember the conservation work they represent.
She said: “We are so privileged to have these gorgeous elephants living with us, and they really are exquisitely made, but they also carry an incredibly important message and I feel it’s a wonderful way to deliver that message, in the surroundings of Broad Avenue, with The Militia Barracks as a backdrop, reminding us how we all live surrounded by nature in this modern and slightly chaotic world, and how we can meaningfully co-exist with that beauty, if we really think about it.
“We must remember the vital role they play in raising awareness for the conservation work being done on a daily basis in their native country.
“It is heart breaking to think of the conflict caused by the ever-growing presence of humans and their needs, with the inevitable result of the shrinking of the natural habitat. And because of the human spread and intervention, the serious threat to their long-term survival is very real, so I hope very much we can all work together to change that.”
Artworks depicting flocks of endangered or biologically extinct native UK birds such as storks, cranes, white tailed eagles, corncrakes and great bustards, created by UK artists will also land on the herd to highlight rewilding efforts closer to home.