Newport will be overtaken by 100 elephants this summer. Where you'll find them.
Due to an error in the information provided about the event, The Newport Daily News previously reported that models of the elephant statues would be available for purchase to benefit Save The Bay. This article has been edited to remove this error.
NEWPORT – This summer, green spaces throughout the City of Newport will be overtaken by 100 elephants. That is, an art installation of 100 life-size elephants will make Newport its first stop on a year-long tour of the United States.
“From coastal cliff walks to city scopes of New York, white sand beaches of Miami, the mountainous regions of Wyoming and the wild like highways of Los Angeles, this one-year campaign will see the herd migrate across the USA and we feel excited for Newport to be the inaugural first location,” said Pod Blagg, one of the logistics managers for the event.
Blagg and fellow project manager James Reimer came before the City Council on Wednesday to present the plans for an art installation that will bring 100 life-size elephant sculptures to four areas across the City of Newport.
This public art event, dubbed “The Great Elephant Migration,” was created by United Kingdom-based nonprofit Elephant Family as a global fundraising initiative to benefit projects and organizations that protect biodiversity and enable people and wildlife to share space, according to the organization’s website.
The sculptures were crafted by the Coexistence Collective, a community of indigenous Indian artisans spanning four tribes: Bettakurumba, Paniya, Kattunayakan, and Soliga. Each elephant was modeled after a real life elephant and made using dried Lantana Camara, an invasive weed that threatens protected areas in India.
At first, all 104 elephants will be installed in a path across the lawn behind Rough Point mansion for a press unveiling on June 29. Then, about 56 of the sculptures will be moved to the lawn behind McAuley Hall on Salve Regina University’s campus, another 26 will be relocated to the lawn behind The Breakers and one elephant sculpture will be stationed on the lawn in front of Great Friends Meeting House.
Newport will be the first city in the United States to host these sculptures, which have already made their initial debut in Kochi, India in 2019 and paraded around London in 2021. The sculptures are expected to remain in place until early September, where they will be removed and transported to their next locations in New York City, Miami, Yellowstone National Park and Los Angeles, where the event will conclude in September 2025.
Elephant Family USA is also partnering with Save The Bay for this project, which will have a dedicated elephant sculpture, one of the adolescent models, with the organization’s logo accompanying it throughout its travels in the US. Additionally, Elephant Family USA is also awarding the organization with a $10,000 donation grant and plans to promote the organization’s largest fundraiser of the year, Save the Bay Swim, which is happening during the art installation’s time in Newport, on its website.
City Councilors expressed their excitement over the installation coming to Newport.
“It is quite a project, bringing in the displays, the various places and locations they will be, certainly, in addition to the opening of Save The Bay (Hamilton Family Aquarium)” Councilor Jeanne Marie Napolitano said. “Personally, I’m very excited about it. I think it’s going to be very well attended.”
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Great Elephant Migration public art exhibit coming to Newport
