Jaguars and an Elephant in Merida

This is an initiative of the 9th World Wilderness Congress, which will be held in Mérida from Nov. 6-13, 2009 at the Siglo XXI.

The jaguar was selected as a symbol of the Mesoamerican wilderness, and artists, companies and donors have joined forces to benefit associations such as Aprendamos Juntos, Patronato Peninsular de Niños con Deficiencia Mental, Save the Children, Alborada, San Vicente de Paúl, Sol y Luna, Limpiabotas and the children of Taller del Macay.

The fiberglass jaguar sculptures are on display in the Pasaje de la Revolución, between the Cathedral and the Macay Museum, and on Paseo de Montejo. They were made by Sergio de la Rosa and painted by Juan Pablo Bavio, Tania Cámara, Lorenzo Engell, Ariel Guzmán, Humberto Hau, Malena Jorge, Teresa Loret de Mola, Silvia Madrid, Efrén Maldonado, Paloma Menéndez, Juan Pablo Mier y Terán, Sandra Nikolai, Katrin Schikora and Stephanie Schikora.

Andries Botha, notable South African sculptor, is traveling across the Atlantic with his 3 meter tall elephant sculpture, Nomkhubulwane, with arrival in Mérida scheduled before the opening of the WILD9 conference. Botha describes the project: “This elephant has been woven out of recycled motor car tires. It was designed and built to go to WILD9….It is made in collaboration with the Magqubo Ntombela foundation and the wilderness movement, under that patronage of Dr. Player, world renowned conservationist…This elephant serves as a creative symbolic reference that calls people to new imaginative conversations with our ailing co-existence with other living things.” All materials and infrastructure for the production of Nomkhubulwane were supplied by Premat of Durban.