Melbourne Zoo and Mali (The one with lots of photo's)

The guard at the entrance to the Carousel Park

On Monday we went to the zoo to watch the MSO perform Carnival of the Animals. It's Melbourne Zoo's 150th birthday and to celebrate they have an elephant theme.  In August we went to Federation Square to meet the Olympians and while we were there we saw these statues of elephants dotted around as part of the Mali in the City program.  Loved them.

I loved the pictures on this one.

So yesterday we went for a trip to Melbourne Zoo where all 50 Mali statues are currently on display in front of the Carousel Park. We took some time to look at them as they will be auctioned off  on 17-18 October at the Carousel Park.

I took heaps of photo's of the Mali's but there were heaps of people and loads of pic's on my camera so I've made some collages for you.  To see them more clearly click on them and they will open up to fill your screen.

 If you would like to see some great close ups and detail photography of each elephant, Fresh Photography has three pages of photos of Mali in Melbourne.

1. Elephants in Melbourne - Pictures of Mali!  (20 Mali's)
2. Elephant Sculptures in Melbourne - Pictures of Mali Part II (15 Mali's)
3. Melbourne's Elephant Art - Pictures of Mali Part III (15 Mali's)

You can find some Facebook albums on Mali by Fresh Photography and Jay S.Cook. theage.com.au has a photo album Mali in Melbourne to look at as well.

YouTube has some great clips:

• Mali in the City by Melbourne Zoo (1:39)
• "Elephantasy" Time Lapse painting. (2:08)
• Graeme Base unveils the First Mali in the City Sculpture.
• "Neo-Composite Elephant" Time Lapse by Jacqueline Gwynne. (9:57)

Around the Carousel are another 55 mini Mali elephant statues that were decorated by students at schools around Victoria.  These will be returned to their origins for permanent displays.

We had a wonderful time exploring these sculptures and seeing the variety of ideas expressed were great.

These are my top three:

Blessings
Chareen