Elephant Family, an international nonprofit focused on protecting Asia’s wildlife, has launched the U.S. phase of The Great Elephant Migration. This marks the inaugural visit of the traveling public-art exhibition and fundraising initiative to the United States: a 3,500-mile Migration of 100 elephant sculptures that will travel to Newport, Rhode Island; New York City; Miami; Blackfeet Nation and the Buffalo Pastures in Browning, Montana; and Los Angeles through 2025.
© Elephant Family
The project is an international collaboration that brings together Indigenous artisans, contemporary artists and cultural institutions to support Indigenous-led conservation and promote peaceful coexistence between people and wildlife.
Each of the 100 elephant sculptures was crafted by The Coexistence Collective, a community of roughly 200 Indigenous artisans from the Betta Kurumba, Paniya, Kattunayakan and Soliga communities of India’s Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in Tamil Nadu. The artisans recreated every elephant they live alongside in finely detailed sculptural form. The sculptures are made from Lantana camara, an invasive weed that affects more than 40 percent of India’s protected areas, turning a damaging material into meaningful art. Each elephant is also twinned with a conservation NGO in the U.S. or elsewhere; proceeds from the sale of each sculpture will directly benefit the partnered organization.
© Elephant Family
The U.S. Migration was conceived and produced by Elephant Family trustee and Coexistence Collective co-founder Ruth Ganesh. The Migration began in Newport and will remain at multiple locations in the area through early September, featuring multidisciplinary installations by artist Hadi Falapishi and curation by Dodie Kazanjian.
Falapishi has created a substantial new body of work specifically for the Migration, to be displayed at several of Newport’s notable mansions and historic sites including the Solarium at Rough Point Museum, the Great Friends Meeting House, and the great hall at The Breakers. The herd of 100 elephants will be placed near these sites to create a dialogue between the sculptures and Falapishi’s installations.
“The vision of 100 hand-made Indian elephants migrating across America, in my mind, is a monumental, cinematic, and moving work of performance art,” said Art&Newport founder Dodie Kazanjian. “I could not think of a project more aligned with the mission and values of Art&Newport, and we are so honored to be the first location in the U.S. to engage with this work.”
© Elephant Family
Following Newport, the herd will move to New York City’s Meatpacking District, arriving Sept. 6, with programming running into late October. In December, in collaboration with Faena Art and The Reef Line and supported by Xerjoff, the elephants will travel to Miami for Art Week; additional programming and artist interventions will be announced ahead of the Miami events.
The final western leg will travel from the Buffalo Pastures of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana toward Los Angeles. That journey will include a convoy of 100 Jeeps decorated with Indian lorry art, each towing a single elephant sculpture. The progression from western mountains to Los Angeles streets is intended to evoke the challenges migratory animals face in human-dominated landscapes.
Reflecting elephant social structure—where herds are led by elder females—the Great Elephant Migration is women-led. The Matriarchy, a group of influential women from environmentalism, philanthropy, storytelling and the arts, will champion human-wildlife coexistence throughout the Migration. Members include Cher, Kristin Davis and Dr. Sylvia Earle, with additional participants to be announced.