The Great West Village Elephant Migration

By Brian Pape

One of the most gorgeous public outdoor art exhibits in recent memory is taking place in the West Village until October 29, free and open to the public to visit. It’s called the Great Elephant Migration (Migration), comprised of 69 life-sized Indian elephant sculptures arranged in landscaped beds of mulch. You can walk up to them, touch them, hug them, just don’t climb on them.

The ‘herd’ can be found in the Meatpacking District along Ninth Avenue, with a few strays on 14th Street, at the Gansevoort Landing, in front of Sabyasachi on Christopher, and the intersection of West Fourth Street and Horatio Street.

According to the website thegreatelephantmigration.org, each elephant sculpture is named, and matched with a conservation NGO, whose work directly benefits from the proceeds of their sculpture sales and encourages conservation strategies to be indigenous and community led. Their aim is to sell 1,000 elephants and raise $10 million for coexistence. This is an indigenous enterprise like no other. The creation of the sculptures provides financial stability, status and pride to 200 members of the Soliga, Bettakurumba, Kattunayakan and Paniya tribes, who coexist with the real wild elephants the herd is based on. 

Each elephant is made from Lantana camara, the second most widespread invasive species in the world. This fast growing, toxic shrub has taken over 40% of forests in India, obliterating native plants and diminishing food sources for animals, pushing them out of forests and into urban areas. The Migration supports a large scale lantana removal project, converting it into biochar which improves soil fertility and water retention.

Already over $500,000 has been generated, which combined with the large scale lantana removal, puts it on track to be the biggest sustainable indigenous enterprise in India. This is significant because for thousands of years indigenous communities have been guardians of the environment. Although they are only around 6% of the global population, they protect 80% of the biodiversity left on earth. This effort celebrates indigenous knowledge and enables them to continue to be custodians and stewards of the forests in a modern context.

The reality in India is wild elephants often wander into cities. Come and enjoy this special feature in our community.

---

The elephants are for sale. They are made for outdoor installations, like the ones on display, but they come with care instructions. They recommend cleaning and applying 2-3 coats of Osmo Oil to each elephant at the start of spring and at the end of summer.

If you wanted to protect your elephant during winters using a temporary cover (if you don’t have elephant-sized storage space), they recommend a loose sheet of tarpaulin to encase the elephant from head to toe. Make sure the elephant is completely dry when putting the cover on, as any trapped moisture could be harmful to the lantana.

They are beautiful life-sized sculptures, supporting conservation and coexistence. You could be a proud owner of one of the 1,000 elephants. What’s your budget? The options are:

Baby Price: $8,000 – average size/weight: 4 x 5 x 2 feet, 100 kg

Adolescent Price: $14,000 – average size/weight: 6 x 10 x 3 feet, 250 kg

Matriarch Price: $18,000 – average size/weight: 7.5 x 12 x 4 feet, 300 kg

Tusker Price: $22,000 – average size/weight: 9 x 15 x 5 feet, 350 kg