“It was really just a vision that dropped in my head: Let’s make a herd of 100 elephants and migrate them across America,” says Ruth Ganesh, a UK-born animal rights activist, conservationist, and arts advocate. After moving to the United States, her new home had her musing about the Route 66 cross-country road trip. But she also had another idea: “Could these elephants be made out of something that was entirely good for the environment?”
It wasn’t until Ganesh connected with Tarsh Thekaekara—an animal researcher and conservationist based in India who had long studied elephant behaviors—that her phantasm morphed into a joyous, roving art installation, with New York as the next stop in its national tour. “The Great Elephant Migration” will be on view around the Meatpacking District through October 20.
The elephant sculptures are life-size, modeled after real-life cows (female elephants), bulls (male elephants), tuskers (male elephants with tusks), and lovable little calves, all made from dried lantana plants—an invasive species that crowds out native plant life, reduces biodiversity, and encroaches on wildlife habitats. (This was at Thekaekara’s suggestion: He has been working with indigenous populations in India to craft furniture out of the plant.)