At first glance, Benjamin Shine’s artwork looks like a charcoal drawing — but closer inspection reveals the elephant is fashioned from a single piece of fabric.
The British artist achieves the depth and tone by creasing, layering and folding tulle netting into life-like shapes using an iron. He donated this work, entitled Sacred Giant, to two elephant conservation charities, Space for Giants and Elephant Family, ahead of the Giants Club Summit in Kenya.
Shine has been passionate about elephants since encountering them as a child on holiday in South Africa and regularly donates works to elephant charities. One of his pieces recently went for £100,000 at Sotheby’s.
He said: “I hope this piece provokes deeper thought about this fragile situation, and increased support for elephant conservation.”
The work — valued at £100,000 — will be open for bids on online auction site paddle8.com next month. Money raised will be split between the two charities, and go towards frontline protection to safeguard elephants from poachers.