Elephant Parade to hit London
Date uploaded: March 29, 2010
250 hand-painted life-size fibreglass baby elephants will appear on the streets of London this summer - including many locations around SE1.
Elephant Parade is organised by Elephant Family, the only charity solely dedicated to ensuring the survival of the Asian elephant.
The London parade will feature 250 life-size baby elephants decorated by artists including Marc Quinn, Diane Von Furstenberg, Alice Temperley, Lulu Guinness, Julien Macdonald, Issa, John Rocha, Alberta Ferretti, Jonathan Yeo, Jack Vettriano, Nina Campbell and Nicky Haslam.
For months artists have been decorating their elephants at the Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre in a shop unit donated by landlord St Modwen.
Although most of the elephants will be in the West End, there will be plenty to see along the SE1 riverside during Elephant Parade which runs from May to July.
Planning applications for temporary installation of fibreglass elephants have been submitted to Southwark Council for Bankside, Clink Street, Shakespeare's Globe and Potters Fields Park. An elephant is also expected to be displayed at the Strata tower at Elephant & Castle.
The display will be followed by an auction by Henry Wyndham of Sotheby's at a glittering event in July which aims to raise more than £1 million to benefit more than 15 UK conservation charities working in Asia.
Previous Elephant Parades have already been held in Holland and Belgium, raising more than €1,600,000 towards the cause.
"Elephant Parade is a brilliantly innovative way of using public art to benefit conservation," says Mayor of London Boris Johnson.
Not only will the parade brighten London's streets and enhance our public spaces, it will play a vital role in building a new generation of conservationists."
