Artist Ryan Gander has created six life-size bronze sculptures at Elephant Park in collaboration with children from three local primary schools.
In 2021, school workshops led by Gander and the South London Gallery Communities and Learning team explored the possibilities for the young people’s futures. They took part in place-making activities relevant to their personal, local, and global environments. The aim of this project was to encourage young people to think about stories from the area and to reflect on the diversity and energy of their own place and future.
Each school created a figure dressed in clothes designed by the children and and an abstract sculpture based on conversations and workshops they did with Ryan Gander.
Ryan Gander is renowned for an innovative approach to art that bridges the mundane with the marvellous, and challenges established notions of what art is, how it’s made, who it’s for, and how it exists in the world. His work encourages viewers to make their own associations, invent their own narratives, and tap into their imagination. The sculptures in Elephant Park continue Gander’s investigations into ‘play’ and ‘make-believe’ as catalysts for creativity, no matter your age.
They demonstrate the power of art in a community and inspiring the next generation of artists and creative thinkers. The completed work creates an engaging trail for everyone to explore and enjoy.
On the project, Ryan Gander said “Elephant & Castle has always been a really special part of London, through all its historic iterations. When we think about place we often think about ‘as it is’ or ‘as it was’, but seldom do we envisage para-possible futures, what a place ‘could be’. This form of ‘Imagineering’ takes great cognitive ingenuity and inventiveness, and so it seemed really apparent and fitting to me that working with those with the most active imaginations and those who know the place the best – namely the young people who live in the area – would be the most catalytic approach.”
As part of the project, Ryan Gander also developed The Future Sketchbook. The Future Sketchbook is an invitation for schools across Southwark to engage with ideas and activities from The Elephant Park Project. Designed by the artist, the 190-page sketchbook features easy-to-follow creative prompts that encourage experimentation and self-expression.
A free digital copy of The Future Sketchbook is available to download here.
The public sculptures are free to visit at Elephant Park, Elephant & Castle.
The Elephant Park Project has been developed in partnership with the South London Gallery and the Contemporary Art Society. Supported by Lendlease.
