Elephant Parade (registered as Elephant Parade BV) is an open-air exhibition dedicated to saving the Asian elephant from extinction. For one or more months, hundreds of painted elephant sculptures specially created by artists are placed in the streets of one or more host cities with the aim of increasing public awareness of the plight of the elephant and gaining support for Asian elephant conservation. They are then auctioned off, with the proceeds going to the Elephant Family organisation.
History
The event was created in 2006 by Marc Spits and his son Mike. It was inspired by Marc Spits' visit (while logging in Myanmar) to the elephant hospital in Thailand, which constructs prosthetic legs for elephants that encounter landmines. There he saw Mosha, a baby elephant who lost her foot when only seven months old. Mosha was the first elephant to receive a prosthetic limb. She is fitted with a new leg every year, and must then learn to walk all over again. The documentary film The Eyes of Thailand, (narrated by Ashley Judd), shows the work of Mosha's caregiver Soraida Salwala.
The first Elephant Parade was held in Rotterdam in 2007. Antwerp followed in 2008. In 2009, Elephant Parade visited Amsterdam. In 2010, Elephant Parades were held in Emmen and London. In 2011 they were held in Heerlen, Copenhagen, Milan, Singapore, Hasselt, and in 2013 in Trier, Luxembourg and Dana Point, California. In 2014, Elephant Parade visited the UK during a National Tour and later Hong Kong, followed by Calais, Suzhou, Bangkok and Florianópolis in 2015. In 2016 Elephant Parade came to Taiwan and celebrated its 10th anniversary in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Elephant Parade returned to The Netherlands in 2017 and held another anniversary parade in Laren. Expositions were also held in São Paulo in 2017 and in India in 2017/2018.
The elephant sculptures in the Elephant Parade are all unique works donated by the artists, who include both established and emerging unknowns and celebrities. They are exhibited in the streets of the host city for one or more months and then auctioned off (by a well known auction house such as Christie's or Sotheby's), with the proceeds going to Elephant Family and the Friends of the Asian Elephant Hospital, home of Mosha, in Lampang, which seeks to save the Asian elephant and return it to its natural habitat. The sculptures are tall. Limited-edition miniatures are also made of most, varying in size between ; these are hand-painted in Thailand and sold on the Elephant Parade website, with the proceeds from all online sales associated with the Elephant Parade also going to Elephant Family and FAE. Money raised through Elephant Parade has been used to support projects from elephant medical care to leasing land where elephants have sufficient space to migrate, breed and live in peace.
Elephant Parade Amsterdam
In 2009 over 100 art elephants participated in Elephant Parade Amsterdam, created by artists including Jan des Bouvrie, Henk Schiffmacher, Menno Baars, Ilse DeLange, Corneille, Rob Scholte, Raymond Hoogendorp and Daryl van Wouw. The elephants were auctioned by Christie's in November 2009. The best-selling elephant was by Corneille, a well known Dutch painter of the COBRA group, and was sold for €42,000. The BaarsFant by Menno Baars was sold for €30,000. Only a few weeks after the auction, Baars designed a second elephant, named BabyBelly. This time, however, he painted the elephant during a live session at the Kalvertoren, a shopping mall in the Kalverstraat, a famous shopping street in Amsterdam. BabyBelly is a smaller art elephant and is pregnant, depicting the conservation of its species.
Elephant Parade London
In 2010, UK conservation charity, Elephant Family, executed the exhibition. Over 250 art elephants were designed for London by Marc Quinn was sold to Amanda Eliasch, others designed by Tommy Hilfiger, Graeme Le Saux, Lulu Guinness, Martin Aveling, Diane von Furstenberg and others. The elephants were transported by Eco Movers over the course of the parade, up to the celebrity auction held in June 2010. The auction raised over £4 million ($7,150,000). The elephant created by Jack Vettriano attracted the highest bid, £155,000 ($252,600).