One hundred life-sized elephant sculptures popped up Thursday, Aug. 6, between Dartmouth and Fairfield streets on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall.
The art installation, sponsored by The ‘Quin House, is part of ‘The Great Elephant Migration,’ which, since its 2024 inception, has visited various locations around the U.S., making previous stops in Newport R.I., and New York City, among other locations. (Future planned stops include Las Vegas, Nev; Washington, D.C.; and Rome, Italy.)
The project aims to raise money and awareness for coexistence between humana and wildlife, while also repurposing a plant that has displaced wildlife in India’s forests.
The herd of elephants, which appear to be heading east towards the Boston Common, were, according to WBUR, handcrafted “from a repurposed invasive plant called Lantana camara by Indigenous artisans from the Nilgiri Hills in Southern India. Each sculpture takes three to four months to complete and is inspired by a real-life elephant that lives in the region.”
The exhibit will remain on the Commonwealth Avenue Mall through Sept. 13.
