NOT FORGOTTEN
Artist: Cherry Chan / Kiat
Medium: Steel Oxide
Elephant Parade was the largest open air art exhibition in preservation of the Asian elephant worldwide. Painted by local and international artists, each elephant is a unique piece of art. After the exhibition, all elephants were auctioned by renowned auctioneers such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Part of all proceeds of Elephant Parade were donated to The Asian Elephant Foundation. It is Elephant Parade’s mission to become the world’s largest financial support organization for the Asian elephant, which is threatened with extinction.
For this project, we were approached by renowned chef, Michael Han of Fifty Three, to collaborate. Based on the Japanese ethos of wabi-sabi, echoed by Michael’s affinity for nature in his culinary creations, ‘Not Forgotten’ questions nature’s chances of survival without human interference. Paint mixed with steel was applied to our elephant and left out in the elements to rust naturally over 5 months, allowing nature to create its own art. A teardrop made of crushed pearl was painted under the left eye of the elephant to reflect a certain sorrow.
‘Not Forgotten’ was chosen by the Asian Civilisation Museum to be displayed on its grounds before the auction at Sotheby’s, where it fetched the highest bid of SGD$29000 for the day.
