By JESSE GRAHAM
WITH the opening of Emerald’s annual PAVE festival, a special addition to the community was unveiled – a sculpture symbolising sustainability in the area.
The Performing and Visual Arts in Emerald (PAVE) festival began officially on Saturday 13 April and the sculpture, Mali the elephant was unveiled at Emerald Library.
The sculpture is one of 50 that were specially made in the image of Mali, the Asian baby elephant born two years ago, and individually painted for Melbourne Zoo’s 150th anniversary.
After being displayed around Melbourne, the sculptures were auctioned off, with the funds raised being used for conservation breeding programs.
Emerald for Sustainability (EmFSus) bought one of the sculptures and unveiled it with the help of Michael Skilney, the artist who painted the particular elephant.
EmFSus treasurer Sarah Cole said the unveiling was a long-awaited event for the group.
“We really want to thank everyone who supported and helped us – we’ve been working on this for many months,” she said.
“In our local area alone we have many endangered species, so some of the money used will go back to us, which is really important.
“This makes a real statement that we’re standing up for sustainability.”
Mrs Cole said there was one hitch with the statue unveiling – the elephant isn’t currently allowed to stay past the end of PAVE festival on 21 April for occupational health and safety issues raised by Cardinia council.
“We knew when we bought it that this would involve council processes,” she said.
“We’re not sure how long it’s going to take – there’s a lot of bureaucracy.
“The council have to make everything safe for the public, but the sculpture was designed to be out in public.”
She said that EmFSus was still working with the council to resolve the issue and that she hopes that the Mali statue will eventually be allowed to stay.
