Elephants of Botswana

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Oct 15 2008 | By: elephantsofbotswana

I had a few days in New York City at the end of my trip – this was due to a proposed trip to Brookfield Zoo in Chicago not going ahead. I had arranged dinner on the Wednesday with the sponsors of our satellite email and it was wonderful to see them. I asked their advice on what I should do with my time in NYC and they suggested Central Park and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). I had been to Central Park before but had not investigated the southern part of the park, and so left my hotel early on Friday to do this prior to visiting the MET. The southern part of the park is full of hidden gems such as sculptures of Shakespeare, Sir Walter Scott, Hans Christian Anderson and Alice in Wonderland. It was also full of dog walkers, walkers, runners, commuters and the homeless catching some sleep on park benches as people ignored them. It is a wonderful space, a beautiful haven in this sea of workers, rich, poor, traffic, noise and constant activity.  Tall trees provide dabbled shade to those that seek solace inside, I certainly enjoyed the more permanent residence of birds and squirrels. I was even approached by a wizard. Blackwolf, I think his name was, he called himself the unofficial wizard of Central Park, offering his services up for birthday parties, weddings and other festivities, an actor fallen on hard times and plying his trade. He had a brilliant English accent.

The MET was not a disappointment and was quite a revelation to me. I have always been drawn to African art, and spent most of my time in that section. Ancient traditions on display through their sculptures and head dresses, most of which had a use and a purpose. In stark contrast to this I went directly to the sculptures of 19^th century Europe and somehow this did not sit so well as it was not so connected to real life; beautiful women portrayed in marble, but for what purpose? And then it clicked that is why I am drawn to African ‘art’ as the items mainly serve a purpose, in dance, in ceremonies, in life.

The MET is packed full of gems, far too much to see in a day, so I went in armed with a check list and saw most on that list. In many of the displays, ancient Egypt, Asia, Africa, there was a common thread, ELEPHANTS, either as Ganesh, used by a deity as a mode of transport, in some form or another, or most often in the form of Ivory. I lost count of how many dead elephants are represented in that collection. It then dawned on me that selling one of this famous works of art would probably support all the elephant conservation projects in the world!!! Isn’t it strange how we put such a high price on something made 10’s or 100’s of years ago yet we struggle to fund conservation projects of the living wonders and the beautiful places that they live??

Tags: Art, Central Park, ivory, MET, New York, USA