The Human Disease ...

Just one elephant spotted after work this evening .... it was a pretty long and stressful day, and the weather was quite iffy.  I have adopted a strategy whereby I seek the more elusive and isolated members of the elephant parade, even albeit on an individual basis, and leave the massive herds and groups of elephants to shoot en masse ...

Elephant 184 titled "The Human Disease"- is placed inside the Hoxton Hotel, Great Eastern Street, in Shoreditch.  Artist is Nathan McKenna.  Artist's Inspiration: "Crowds of people both fascinate and depress me. We're unable to really grasp the insignificance of our personal sense of "I" whilst simultaneously unaware of the massive effect we have on our planet and our fellow Earthlings, the animals. Understanding that we are an organism is an important realization in the consciousness revolution."

The following is a piece published in the Hackney Gazette 24 on 12 May 2010:

Elephant Parade: The Human Disease stands in the lobby of the Hoxton Hotel

A hotel in Hoxton is the only place in Hackney offering a home to one of the 250 or more life-size elephants taking over central London this summer.

The Hoxton Hotel in Great Eastern Street is hosting a member of the Elephant Parade, an exhibition of elephants across the capital raising money for conservation charities.

The hotel is the new home of a bright white elephant decorated with hundreds of tiny people called The Human Disease, which has been created by artist Nathan McKenna.

Hotel owner Sinclair Beecham said: "I thought it was a fantastic project. We have all sorts of strange and wonderful pieces of art in the lobby before. This mixes my desire for weird and wonderful art and a good cause."

"The elephants are mostly all in the West End of London and we get slightly forgotten over here in Hackney so it is great to be part of it."

The elephant will stay at the hotel for seven weeks before being auctioned off to raise money for the Asian elephant as well as 20 UK conservation charities.

Here's a different profile:

This ellie is really quite pretty, despite the fairly revolting name.  I wish there was a site whereby the artist gave you the basis of their inspiration, or how they achieved the end result .... Close up, the elephant surface seems to have been taken over by tiny figures, all in different positions ...

Despite the frenetic pace, I am only up to 20 elephants, with 238 to go ... a very daunting prospect, at this stage! Will I even get close - especially with the dire weather predictions for the next couple of days ....