 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
|
|
||
|
Jennifer Hile |
||
|
Vanishing Giants |
||
|
October 4 - December 4, 2005 |
||
|
|
||
|
Artist's Statement: |
||
|
Thais often say elephants helped build their nation. For
centuries they were Thailand's tanks, taxis, and bulldozers. As such, a
contradiction developed: These beasts of burden became cultural icons. They
are symbols of good luck and the King's divine right to rule, as well as
religious icons. None of which protects them from abuse or their current
slide toward extinction. The World Conservation Union currently lists the
Asian elephant as endangered.
I spent three-month journey exploring why domestic elephants are in so much trouble in Asia -- both wild and domestic elephant populations fell by 96% over the last century, and continue to shrink -- and what can be done to help them. I spent much of that time with Lek Chailert, a Thai activist who devotes her life to throwing a shoulder against the downhill slide of these endangered animals. Lek owns a sanctuary called Elephant Heaven where she takes in old and abused working elephants. It's the only free roaming sanctuary for elephants in Thailand. At her sanctuary, Buddhist monks gather in orange robes to wander through the forest, tying sacred cloths to the trees to protect them. Orphaned elephants are bottle fed by their keepers. Elephants injured by abuse or poachers get medical help. Lek hopes her sanctuary hopes her will be a model in Thailand for how to keep domestic elephants without abusing them. |
And abuse is rife in Thailand. Lek also took me to see a
"training crush." It's the centerpiece of a centuries-old ritual designed to
domesticate young elephants for work, and occurs in every country in Asia
that domesticates elephants. The animals are caged when they are young, and
beaten severely to make them fearful of their owners. Handlers use
sleep-deprivation, hunger, and thirst to "break" the elephants' spirit. It
occurs in various forms in every country in Asia that uses domestic
elephants. Lek is trying to change this ancient ritual, but something so
deeply ingrained does not succumb to new ideas.
The last chapter in my elephant explorations was a trip into the central highlands of Burma with Lek. Burma is considered one of the last strong holds for Asian elephant populations; Lek and I wanted to explore the logging camps in the central highlands. Lek and I jumped onto rattling trucks and unfolded sleeping bags in remote logging camps to watch jumbos at work, dismantling their own habitat, much as they have for over 2,000 years in Asia. Our goal was to probe just how strong elephant populations are in the hermetic kingdom of Burma. This country is one of the last places of hope for the elephant,Lek tells me. We went to discover how much hope remains.
|
|
|
|
||
|
Jennifer Hile is a freelance documentary filmmaker, photographer, and writer based in New York City. Her films primarily appear on the National Geographic Channel, one of which was nominated for an Emmy for Best Nature/Science Film in 2003. Her various projects have involved living for three months with elephants in Thailand and Burma, exploring the illegal wildlife trade in Cambodia, volunteering with orangutans in Borneo, probing the illegal shark fin trade in the Galapagos, and traveling through the Asmat region of New Guinea to explore indigenous land rights. Her photos of how to "break" and domesticate an elephant appear in the October 2005 issue of National Geographic Magazine. |
||
|
|
||
|
Thanks to the The C-Lab for printing all the photographs on display |
||
|
Previous exhibitions at The Half King For further information on these exhibits, please go here. |
||
