Elephant Parade: Colorful Jumbos Adorn Mumbai Spreading Awareness For Their Conservation
Some of the elephant sculptures were painted by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, designers such as LN Tallur, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, and Masaba Gupta.
Mumbai became the host to a spectacular display of elephants last week with an array of their sculptures being placed in different parts of the city. The public art event organised with the aim to spread awareness about elephants and the need for their conservation was inaugurated by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Known as Elephant Parade India, it included colorful sculptures of elephants with messages of saving forests and the animal.
Some of the elephant sculptures were painted by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, designers such as LN Tallur, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, and Masaba Gupta. Of the sculptures put on display at the Gateway of India, some were made of bronze, while some in gold and others in fiberglass. The vibrant colors of them included paintings of colorful butterflies, golden trees, and flowers.
Mumbaikars including a lot of children came in plenty to see the herds in vibrant hues. The elephant models used in the initiative to raise awareness for the endangered Asian elephants also paintings from the Indian history. Unlike most art installations, one can touch and hug these elephants.
The event was also attended by Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, Lok Sabha member and ambassador of 'Elephant Parade' Poonam Mahajan and Ruth Ganesh, CEO of Elephant Family were present on the occasion. After Mumbai, the elephant sculptures will be taken to another place to spread the same message. The sculptures will be in different parts of Mumbai until the third week of March.
Elephant Parade has been held 24 times in different places like Netherlands, Hong Kong, and London. From 50 to 250 sculptures were created by such artists as Katy Perry and Bryan Adams. According to the 2017 Elephant Census, only 50,000 Asian elephants are left of which 27,000 are in India.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 07, 2018 07:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).