Helping Hand

Driftwood, marble, granite, rusty antique nails

This sculpture was inspired by the tusk shaped piece of wood I found at the beach in Achiltibuie in Scotland at the same time as hearing about the atrocities of ivory poaching. Money was of course the biggest force for fuelling this dirty trade.  Wanting to involve my pupils more in the creative sculpting process I introduced them to seven different possibilities how I could develop this sculpture without showing my preference. There were rusty metal pieces, washed up plastic elements, different shapes of wood, rope, stones, shells and textile elements for them to choose from. In a secret ballot it turned out that two thirds of my pupils (115) chose exactly the one combination I liked best.  Here is the result – the elephant’s tusk, the held-out hand with small money for the poachers and the big money for the dealers.

Spring 2017

Approximate dimensions (cm) H65 W21 D41