“It started as an idea that spontaneously appeared in my mind: Why not create a group of 100 elephants and have them journey across America?” explains Ruth Ganesh, an animal welfare advocate, preservationist, and supporter of the arts originally from the UK. Since relocating to the United States, she found herself contemplating the Route 66 nationwide trip. However, she had an additional query: “Is it possible for these elephants to be constructed using only eco-friendly materials?”
Ganesh’s notion transformed into a joyful, mobile art display when she partnered with Tarsh Thekaekara—an animal expert and conservationist from India who has extensively examined elephant conduct. New York is the upcoming stage in its national exhibition. “The Great Elephant Migration” will be featured in the Meatpacking District until October 20.
The elephant artworks are full-scale, inspired by actual cows (female elephants), bulls (male elephants), tuskers (male elephants with tusks), and adorable young calves, all crafted from dried lantana plants—an invasive species that suppresses indigenous plant life, diminishes ecological diversity, and threatens wildlife habitats. (This was advised by Thekaekara as he collaborates with native communities in India for crafting furniture from the plant.)
Throughout much of her existence, Teresita Fernández had witnessed in person as many creations by Land Art pioneer Robert Smithson as most individuals had—which is to say, none.
“For the majority of us, the limited knowledge we possess of Robert Smithson revolves around that poor-quality image in art-history textbooks of Spiral Jetty, which is quite small and in fuzzy black and white,” remarks the Brooklyn-based creator regarding Smithson’s influential site-specific 1970 earthwork in Utah’s Great Salt Lake, which has come to symbolize Land Art. “We are unaware of how the piece was constructed. We do not see what it appears like from various perspectives. And that was my experience as well. It was not until much later in my life that I encountered one of his artworks.”
This is partly because Smithson’s most significant pieces are site-specific earthworks, made to be reclaimed by time and nature in regions far from major art-world centers, such as Kent, Ohio, and the northeastern Netherlands—and because his life was tragically shortened at age 35 by a light-plane accident while surveying a location for another artwork in 1973.
Presently, as co-organizer of a pioneering display that pairs his historical art with hers, Fernández has encountered more of his creations than ever before—and so can those visiting “Teresita Fernández/Robert Smithson,” showcased at Site Santa Fe until October 28.
Designed as an intergenerational dialogue between a duo of artists, the exhibition examines themes of location, site, and autonomy. Along with co-organizer Lisa Le Feuvre, executive director of the Holt/Smithson Foundation (committed to preserving the legacies of Smithson and fellow Land Art artist Nancy Holt, his spouse), Fernández not only highlights formal, material, and conceptual connections but occasionally challenges Smithson’s art and adds complexity to his legacy.
In Someone Spectacular, a fresh drama by Domenica Feraud, an unsettling event occurs when a sextet gathers for their routine grief-counseling meeting: their counselor, Beth, simply fails to appear. As ten unproductive, anxious minutes stretch to twenty and then thirty, the ensemble—composed of Nelle (Alison Cimmet), who’s mourning a sister; Jude (Delia Cunningham), who’s grieving a child; Thom (Damian Young), who’s lamenting a spouse; Julian (Shakur Tolliver), who’s missing an aunt; Lily (Ana Cruz Kayne), who’s lost a beloved mother; and Evelyn, (Gamze Ceylan) who’s resentfully parted with a mother—begins to unravel. They become frantic, draw boundaries, critique each other, and critique themselves. Yet, as more moments pass by, a shift ensues. They start to express vulnerability and defend one another, to separate and realign into a configuration that feels more constant, nearly secure. What each individual is discovering, either quietly or vociferously, is the method by which they ought to proceed without their loved one.
Feraud has typically crafted fulfilling and insightful projects from personal encounters—her writings “The 26=Year-Old Virgin” (2020), “The Movie Star and Me” (2022), along with her 2019 drama Rinse, Repeat being, until now, prime examples. Though Rinse, Repeat focused on a topic, eating disorders, personally significant to Feraud, it was at its core fictional. Someone Spectacular, however, sits much nearer to her life story, surfacing from the overwhelming shock of losing her own mother in 2022.
With four weeks remaining in the play’s off-Broadway engagement, located at The Pershing Square Signature Center on 42nd Street, Feraud converses with Vogue about her intensely joyous first night, being part of the understudy group (She’s performing this weekend!), and how immersing herself in The Real Housewives influenced the production. The dialogue has been modified and shortened for clarity.
Vogue: I’m eager to know about your opening night. Someone Spectacular is an incredibly intimate play, moving yet quite humorous. How did you commemorate it?
Doménica Feraud
Photo: Getty Images
Doménica Feraud: It was quite overwhelming, in the most wonderful sense. My brother traveled from Austin to attend, marking his first experience of the play, which made it immensely meaningful. Many of my relatives and those closest to my mom joined, and then friends were present to share the event. Additionally, celebrating with the cast and my director, Tatiana Pandiani, meeting her partner and friends…and having Paige [Evans], co-producer and dramaturg, who’s been a guide for me extensively and now stands as a colleague—even though we’ve shared a strong bond for seven years, we finally got a photo together. Moreover, each character draws inspiration from actual people, to some measure; they represent the Inside Out emotional renditions of acquaintances I have. Thus, we experienced a memorable moment capturing images of each performer alongside their muse.
