The Chinese not only have a voracious appetite for mineral resources, such as oil and steel, but also for more rare and exotic materials, like ivory.
Despite an international trade ban in ivory currently in place, the Chinese nonetheless import massive quantities of illegally obtained ivory from Africa every year. Poachers shoot the elephants, hack off their precious tusks and leave the dead animals to rot in the hot African sun. In this work I'm highlighting this practice, with playful little Chinese figurines gleefully cavorting upon a pile of tusk less elephants.
Courtesy of Sullivan+Strumpf Fine Art
vintage porcelain figurines, epoxy resin, epoxy putty, powder, pigments, retouching medium
77 x 35 x 23 cm
Finalist
Judges of the 2011 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize: Dr Gene Sherman AM (Executive Director of Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation) and Professor Ted Snell AM (Chair of the Visual Arts Board, Australia Council).
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