The London Elephant Parade 2010: Themed Flanage

[nanila]

Ampersand & me


Last summer, 258 elephant statues temporarily graced the streets and buildings of London before being auctioned off for charity. I spent several weeks combing the city with the aid of the very unspecific map supplied by the sponsors to find them. (Really, that map was terrible. I went through a lot of shoe leather on a couple of evenings just to find one or two elephants.) I eventually managed to see them all, although I had to wait until they were all gathered at the Royal Hospital Chelsea at the end of June to catch the final 25 that I’d missed.

My photos of most of them in their “natural” habitats, from Green Park to Selfridges to Bond Street to Notting Hill, can be viewed in a set on Flickr. I include a small selection behind the cut.

Comments

[eight_demands]

These are gorgeous! I can't believe you were able to find most of them - bravo!

[nanila]

The designs were so beautifully varied. The statues had been placed densely enough so that you seemed to stumble across them wherever you went in central London. Set out to find them methodically, however, and you quickly discovered how well hidden some of them were!

[kake]

Yes, I stumbled across several, despite not actually looking for them. I am still in awe of how many you found despite not living in London!

[rydra_wong]

I hadn't heard anything about them in advance, and it was more than a little startling when I started seeing them appear wherever I went.

[rydra_wong]

YOU SAW ALL THE ELEPHANTS.

I am appropriately awed.

[nanila]

I still wish I'd managed to see them all in their original placements. The trouble is, I commute from Cambridge to London every day so I had to make time around the edges of that to find them, and I never quite made it out to Heathrow Terminal 5 or Greenwich, which were considerably out of my way.

[kabal42]

There's an Elephant parade here now. If I get a chance I'll try and track ours down :-)
(I'm in Copenhagen, Denmark.)

[kake]

I knew I was justified in adding a "themes: elephants" tag :)

[nanila]

Ooh, please do. And report back here!

[kabal42]

I will if I get a chance! I'm mired in exams atm, so if time permits flanage, I'll wander off.

[recessional]

The elephants are much cooler than the bears, orcas or eagles we occasionally get around here. <3

[nanila]

Yes, but you get the real thing as well. There aren't a lot of actual elephants in central London.

[spiralsheep]

Thank you for sharing.

[nanila]

I'm glad you enjoyed them, too.

[solitarywalker]

i'm surprised i didn't hear about this... Years ago Chicago did the same thing with cows. And DC's done it with pandas. Does London have a special link to/association with elephants?

[nanila]

I think it's probably not so much specific to London as it is to England. I imagine the British colonial links with India and Africa have yielded a certain appreciation for elephants here.

[kake]

Slightly relatedly, just found this London elephants quiz (via Caroline's Miscellany).

[nanila]

Oh, that's lovely! I know I've seen about a third of those, but pinpointing exactly where they are would be a challenge.

[holdthesky]

Oh excellent!

[nanila]

It was like doing a treasure hunt. I wish there was something like it every year!