Sebastian Meyer, Courtesy Elephant Family USA and Newport Restoration Foundation
The sculptures travel to their first destination: Rhode Island.
Make way for the elephants! These life-sized plant sculptures are part of an exhibit called the Great Elephant Migration. Each one was based on an individual Asian elephant living in India. Last year, the traveling art exhibit kicked off in Rhode Island, and it will visit several cities across the U.S. through July 2025.
A community of 200 Indian artists created the sculptures. They shaped them using the woody stems of a flowering plant called lantana (lan-TAH-nuh). This invasive plant crowds out the plants that elephants eat in their habitat. As the animals search for food, they moved closer to where people live. Removing these troublesome plants gives elephants more space to roam.
The sculptures will visit busy cities and parks in the U.S. for people to interact with. “We hope people will feel inspired to find ways to live better alongside the animals that surround them,” says Kirsten Glover, who works for the exhibit.