Elephant Sculptures Visit Newport to Spread a Message
From July 4 to September 2, one hundred elephant sculptures will be around Newport as a part of an international art exhibition.
Mother and baby elephant. Photo by Kat Sheridan.
Starting on July 4, visit Newport to see the start of the 3,500-mile “The Great Elephant Migration” across America, with one-hundred elephants young and old. The fun part? These elephants are made of an invasive weed, Lantana camera, and they are an art exhibit made by The Coexistence Collective. The exhibit will be in four places across Newport: Rough Point, the Great Friends Meeting House, Salve Regina University along the Cliff Walk, and the Breakers. The elephants will be on view until September 2.
Rough Point, the Breakers and the Great Friends Meeting House will have an outdoor exhibit of the elephants, as well as an indoor exhibit featuring art by Hadi Falapishi. Fifty-two of the elephants will reside at Salve Regina University, while the others are spread across the other three locations.
Newport is the first stop on the elephants’ journey across America. After Newport, they will be transported to New York, Miami, Blackfeet Nation in Virginia, Buffalo Pastures in Montana, before finally landing in L.A. This exhibit will take a year and a month. They chose The Matriarchy, a group of influential women across many fields who rally behind conservation, to transport the herd as elephants follow a matriarchal structure.
Elephants walking past Rough Point. Photo by Kat Sheridan.
“Whether you’re coexisting with elephants in the Nilgiri hills in India or with your fellow human beings here in Newport, finding ways to live better together is the ultimate goal,” says Dodie Kazanjian, the founder of Art&Newport, which is a nonprofit that brings international art and artists to Newport.
This exhibit is made to inspire people to share space with animals. In India, when the human population doubled, the native animal population increased as well. The entire way, sculptures and merchandise by LOVE BRAND & CO. will be for sale to support the coexistence of humans and animals as well as nature conservation. Each of the lantana camera elephants is a recreation of an elephant the Coexistence Collective lives near, and sales will directly benefit the elephants.
“In the last forty years, the human population of India has doubled to 1.4 billion, which has coincided with an increase in the number of elephants, rhinos, lions and tigers in the country,” says Ruth Ganesh, co-founder of the Coexistence Collective and trustee of the Elephant Family. “The extraordinary success of this compassionate coexistence is a testament to the power of collective empathy. Our magnificent herd is here to tell its story, inspiring the human race to share space and be part of this transformative movement.”
Up close with the elephants at Rough Point. Photo by Kat Sheridan.
The Coexistence Collective is a community of two-hundred indigenous artists. The artists are from different communities in Tamil Nadu, India’s Nilgiri biosphere Reserve; Bettakurumba, Paniya, Kattunayakan, and Soliga.
This touring art exhibition toured through the U.K. in 2021 and attracted five million spectators. This project has been in the works for Newport for ten years, and was approved by Frankie Vagnone, the Newport Restoration Foundation president, for this year.
To learn more about this exhibit, visit thegreatelephantmigration.org.
