Once there were Elephants
This piece was made in response to concern about declining wildlife populations, highlighted by the ‘Our Living Planet’ report published by the WWF in 2018. It reflects a worrying possibility that we may be heading towards a future without some of our most iconic species.
The elephant in this piece was initially made from stone tesserae set into a bed of adhesive. To emphasise the destructive effect man has had on the elephant population, the stone was ripped out before the cement had fully hardened, leaving only an impression of where the elephant had been.
The background was designed to represent the threat that habitat loss poses to elephants. As human populations increase, so does their demand on land, leading to the loss and fragmentation of land where elephants roam. The green and brown smalti used in the background were chosen as echoes of the forests and grasslands that elephants usually inhabit. They are scattered throughout the piece, along with patches of slate laid flat, reflecting the fragmentation of land that makes it harder for elephants to survive.
The substrate itself was made to create an impression of an old piece of paper or scroll, something that tells future generations of what the past once contained.
