101 gorgeous elephant sculptures by leading artists and designers including LN Tallur, Princess Pea, Christian Louboutin, Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Masaba Gupta are scheduled to come to Mumbai for 3 weeks of public display for Elephant Parade India.
The official inauguration of the parade in Mumbai will be on Sunday, 25th February 2018 at the Gateway of India in the presence of Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Hon'ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Sudhir Mungantiwar, Hon'ble Minister of Finance, Planning and Forests and Smt. Poonam Mahajan, Hon'ble Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) and Parade Ambassador. Following the inauguration, the elephants will be displayed in herds at prominent Mumbai locations to be photographed, hugged and kissed by an admiring public as part of what has become recognised as the world's biggest public art event. Each elephant will be for sale to raise funds for their endangered wild cousins and their forest homes.
Created as part of the 2017 UK India Year of Culture, Elephant Parade India is organised by Elephant Family in association with Good Earth. Following 24 successful Elephant Parades worldwide, Elephant Parade India has engaged leading Indian artists, fashion designers, design institutes, tribal painters & celebrities to transform 101 elephant sculptures into unique painted masterpieces. A selection of elephants have been displayed at special preview events in Jaipur, New Delhi and Kolkata before coming to Mumbai.
After the public display, the elephants will be sold in an auction to raise funds for Asian elephant corridors and projects to address human-elephant-conflict throughout India. Elephant Corridors are the pathways that elephants use to get from one forest feeding ground to the next. Like bridges between islands, they provide vital connections between forest fragments, allowing elephants and other animals to move freely. Elephant Family is working in priority landscapes in partnership with the Wildlife Trust of India to secure 101 elephant corridors in India. Elephant Family also funded the 2017 publication of Right of Passage in which 101 elephant corridors are identified across key regions of India.
Elephant Parade India is an awareness raising campaign aimed at drawing attention to the plight of the endangered Asian elephant whose numbers have fallen by 90% in the last 100 years. Funds raised from the parade will help secure 101 elephant corridors across India for the endangered Asian elephant. The London Elephant Parade, which took place in 2010, became Londons biggest public art exhibition with more than 250 brightly painted elephants located across central London. The sculptures sold for 4.1m and raised awareness for the plight of the endangered Asian elephant with audiences of 25 million people.