Artist Sacha Jafri designed a one-of-a-king hand-painted model elephant inspired by Disney’s musical “The Lion King.” The elephant will join 250 unique, life-size baby elephants as part of London’s biggest-ever public art event, “The Elephant Parade.” The event is designed to raise public awareness for the endangered Asian elephant and is put on by the Elephant Family charity.
The painted elephants appear around a number of London landmarks this month – the Lion King inspired elephant is on display in the Covent Garden piazza. On June 30th, 25 of the elephants will be auctioned off, with the money going to benefit UK conservation charities working in Asia.
Sacha said about The Lion King and the elephant:
I am inspired by the magical world of storytelling and adventure that is Disney; and in creating this work I wanted to pay homage to the bright and beautiful world of THE LION KING. As the stage show does, this piece aims to surprise the senses, to uplift the soul and seduce the spirit, to ignite and energise, to remind us of our dream world and to encourage us to adventure on beyond our world, to make the over-familiar magical again. I want the viewer to move around the elephant, to find different elements each time they look, to dip in and out of the magic and to realise their own story of child-hood, escapism, confrontation, responsibility and love.
Thomas Schumacher, President of Disney Theatrical Productions added:
I am delighted that THE LION KING is a part of London’s Elephant Parade – and especially thrilled to have renowned artist Sacha Jafri interpret the show with his inspired and energetic painting and its rich kaleidoscope of colour and storytelling. We are all immensely proud of Sacha’s achievement and hope the general public will enjoy his exciting work when they see THE LION KING elephant on display in Covent Garden.
Source: westend.broadwayworld.com
