The Great Migration Trumpets into Miami Beach
An art installation of elephants is the best thing you'll see at Miami Art Week
Miami Art Week (including Art Basel) is in full force throughout Miami and Miami Beach.
It all started in 2002 when Switzerland’s Art Basel expanded to Miami Beach. For a weekend, a city known mostly for its beaches and nonserious attitude turned into the epicenter of art and culture.
22 years later, Art Basel has expanded into Miami Art Week, filled with ancillary art shows and parties. You’re just as likely to find tequila launches and corporate-branded “experiences” as you are art. One might say that sheer commercialism and spectacle have replaced the art in Miami Art Week.
In this cacophony of guest DJs, open bars, and massive traffic jams (it took me 45 minutes to travel three miles in an Uber a few evenings ago), there are still some staggering works of beauty to be found. That, and not free tequila in plastic cups, is what keeps me going to Miami Art Week.
For me, the most striking art on display is The Great Elephant Migration. This work consists of 100 life-sized elephants of all sizes and ages — from tiny calves situated right at their mothers’ flanks to bull elephants with their tusks on display in all their glory.
The elephants are created from lantana camera weed, fashioned around steel frames, and are the work of the Real Elephant Collective, to raise awareness of these magnificent creatures.
The elephants are slowly making their way across the United States. Their first two stops in Newport Rhode and New York City went without a hitch,
Of course, Miami Beach is always a different story and Page Six reported that security guards caught a couple doing it on the elephants (a mega feat, since they’re more than six feet high and they’re not, exactly, made of feathers).
That being said, the Great Elephant Migration asked for volunteers to serve as “Elephant Guardians”.
I signed up for an afternoon shift. As I walked to the elephants on the sands, nothing quite prepared me — or anyone — for the sight of 100 life-sized elephants parading on the beach.
My duties were explained: Answer simple questions, point people to the QR code if they want to donate to the organization, and KEEP PEOPLE OFF THE ELEPHANTS (although touching was encouraged). Mostly, my job consisted of taking pictures of families with the herd.
Thankfully, everyone was in good spirits and kept off the pachyderms, the afternoon was one of those rare days where there was a cool breeze and not a cloud in the sky, and art and conservation walked hand in hand. Maybe because of the weather, or maybe because of how stunning those elephants looked against the shades of blue in the sky and water, but something magical happened.
People forgot these creatures were made of metal and reed. They hugged the elephants, found their favorite (each had their own name), and pet their trunks. People stared into the gentle amber eyes and spoke gently to them. The elephants did what great art has been doing since the beginning of mankind: touch people.
If you’re in Miami for Art Week, you owe it to yourself to see the herd, which is on view through Sunday, December 8 on Miami Beach between 35th and 36th Streets. On Monday morning, a crew will start packing up the herd.
The herd will then move slowly across the United States, traveling to Hermann Park in Houston, Texas in April 2025. They will then migrate to Blackfeet Nation, Buffalo Pastures in Browning, Montana in June 2025. The herd will also be on display at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in May and June of 2025 (the herd splits up), and finally will travel to Los Angeles in July 2025.
The elephants are also available for sale, with proceeds benefiting several NGOs and elephant charities. They range from $8,000 to $22,000 and are currently sold out (though from time to time elephants are made to replace the elephants sold). If that’s a little out of your price range, caps, shirts, and more are available online and make great holiday gifts.
For more information, to shop, and to donate, visit thegreatelephantmigration.org.