Durban sculptor Andries Botha and his team unveiled three wooden, lifesized elephants, on Saturday, that will make their way to Belgium this week.
The elephants were created in the Sydney Road studio of Botha with the assistance of fellow sculptors Bhekazi Ngcobo, Jessica Bothma and Mzulungile Nabhu. The elephants consist of a giant elephant, a juvenile and a baby elephant constructed from straps of African hardwood bolted on to a framework.
Botha acknowledged the global crises of political credibility but called “our” collective attention to the greater challenge of citizenship to address the escalating perils of climate degradation.
Botha paid tribute to the relevance and significance of a healthy ecosystem and the roles that all wild animals play in securing this sustainable future for humanity.
In this regard elephants are an ancient reminder of African legacy, heritage and identity, Botha said.
“As the largest land-based mammal, their presence and survival demand particular challenges to our ever-expanding industrialised landscapes and the inevitable decline of wild spaces that hold and ensure the survival of our human species,” Botha said.
In a lighter vein, Botha hoped these three elephants might safely begin their influential creative, cultural and ecological migration by escaping the predatory hunting grounds of the City of Durban.
“Durban is now a place of elephants. They were here, they disappeared, then they came home again.”
Botha was also commissioned by the City of Durban to construct and assemble the sculpture of three elephants alongside the N3 at Warwick Junction in 2014.
Durban resident Carol Hayward Fell said it was a wonderful rare opportunity to see this top Durban artist’s work on its way overseas. Fell and Botha studied Fine Art together in the 1970s.
“Botha has achieved international acclaim for his giant elephant sculptures. These ones are life-sized. Durbanites may remember once seeing his big elephants, made out of recycled car tyres, which stood beside Berea Road for some time,” Fell said.
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