S Y M B I O S I S Acrylic

Essentially it depicts the interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both.

Elephants and people in Thailand live their lives intertwined. It can be peaceful or deadly. I visited a small, family-owned Elephant Sanctuary, Krabi. Their slogan is ‘Experience the wonder of Elephants being Elephants’. I learnt so much from my visit, about how these sanctuaries should be run (absolutely no riding!) and how it is basically impossible now for elephants to live independently in the wild without pissing off humans. Either they are in sanctuaries or on rubber plant foundations with only 4,000 or so left in the wild. Symbiosis is essential for elephant survival in Thailand and I wanted my painting to reflect that. I also wanted to demonstrate the pain and suffering that had been inflicted on both elephants and people by choosing symbolic Thai colours, in particular red, blue and white.