MALI IN THE CITY PAINTED ELEPHANTS

I had been envious of artists who participated in exhibitions like Cow Parade and A Trail of Painted Ponies for a long time, so I was delighted to hear about the Mali in the City art project being curated by Melbourne Zoo.  50 life-size fibreglass sculptures were painted by local artists and spread around the city for a 6 week period. Afterwards, the elephants were then auctioned off with the proceeds going to the zoo and its conservation efforts. I submitted two designs and both were selected. I worked onsite at Melbourne Zoo with other artists painting my elephants and taking lunch breaks walking around the zoo, sometimes sketching the animals. Once I finished my first elephant, Elephantasy, it was selected to go on display in the very prominent window of Myer in the heart of Melbourne city. Elephantasy was standing alongside the work of Graeme Base, David Bromley and Mali the elephant (literally an elephant named Mali had painted onto the sculpture of herself). When the parade started, Elephantasy found a new spot in Southbank and my other piece “Here Today” was positioned outside of the Zoo. After the six-week period the elephants were all gathered back at the zoo and auctioned off to raise funds for the zoo’s conservation programs. My elephants combined raised $14,500 and the entire Mali in the City project brought in $450,000 for the zoo. This was an amazing project and I am so grateful to have been involved. Props to the Melbourne Zoo to pulling off such a massive project so successfully! You can see all my blog posts on the project here.

View Project

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