Thursday, July 07, 2011

Exhausted Renegade Elephant

'Exhausted Renegade Elephant" by Joel Sternfeld.

Since coming across this photograph on a postcard in the Arnolfini bookshop the other day I haven't been able to stop looking at it. The sight of an exhausted, fully grown Elephant collapsed in the middle of a small country road in Cowlitz County, Washington is incredible. At first I thought Sternfeld's photograph was showing a car crash, and kind of laughed with the surreal realisation that it is in fact an elephant..on the loose in rural America. But then as you look closer and see the local children gathered on the bank to witness this odd sight of the elephant being hosed down in an attempt too cool there is something very melancholy about it all. Amazing photograph nonetheless and you can read the story behind it all here. Very Dumbo-esque with the story of escaped elephants, baffled town sheriffs and a trampled animal trainer..

6 comments:

Stephanie May said...

Hey Stevie, the photographers last name is Sternfeld not Sternberg. His work is amazing though I'm so glad you posted his work.

Stephanie

xxx

discotheque confusion said...

Oops, thanks for the heads up on the name slip-up, Stephanie!

Unknown said...

This photo is powerful....

http://www.designers-artists.com

- said...

wow, impressed by the picture. It's laughable but it's also a very sad picture... that elephant was probably in very bad conditions...

Anonymous said...

yeah, i just checked "American prospects : photographs" a few weeks ago. great book to flip through, it has the elephant shot and lots more.

daisy said...

this shot is amazing. so glad you posted this, i've now been googling similar for about an hour.
xx