Elephant Parade India is an campaign aimed at shifting focus and raising awareness towards the endangered Asian elephant whose numbers have declined by 90% in the last 100 years. Hence 101 gorgeous elephant sculptures by leading artists and designers including LN Tallur, Princess Pea, Christian Louboutin, Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Masaba Gupta are put on display scheduled t 80o come to Mumbai for 3 weeks.
On Sunday, 25th February 2018 the inauguration of the parade in Mumbai will be held at the Gateway of India by Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Sudhir Mungantiwar, Hon’ble Minister of Finance, Planning and Forests and Smt. Poonam Mahajan, Hon’ble Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) who is also the Parade Ambassador.
Following the inauguration, the elephants will be displayed in herds at various locations in Mumbai to be admired, photographed, hugged and kissed by public and is recognised as the world’s biggest public art event as each elephant will be for sale to raise funds for their endangered wild cousins and their forest homes.
The event is created as part of the 2017 UK India Year of Culture, Elephant Parade India is organised by Elephant Family in association with Good Earth. After the success 24 Elephant Parades worldwide, Elephant Parade India has given Indian artists, fashion designers, design institutes, tribal painters & celebrities to transform 101 elephant sculptures into unique painted masterpieces and showcase their skill more extensively. A selection of elephants have been displayed at special preview events in Jaipur, New Delhi and Kolkata too, before coming to Mumbai.
After the public display, the elephants will be sold in an auction to raise funds for developing Asian elephant corridors and projects to address human-elephant conflict throughout India. Elephant Corridors are the pathways that elephants use to get from one forest feeding ground to the next. Like bridges between islands, they provide vital connections between forest fragments, allowing elephants and other animals to move freely. Elephant Family is working in priority landscapes in partnership with the Wildlife Trust of India to secure 101 elephant corridors in India. Elephant Family also funded the 2017 publication of Right of Passage in which 101 elephant corridors are identified across key regions of India.
