Gudalur-based social enterprise The Elephant People creates 4–8 ft primate sculptures from invasive plants like Lantana camara and Senna spectabilis as a form of reflection on human–animal conflict in the Nilgiris. Centred around adivasi artisans and communities, the project transforms harmful biomass into public artworks that mirror human-like primate expressions while also contributing to forest restoration, conservation, and livelihoods.
The Elephant People’s Primate Sculptures pulls you in with a stare. From 4 to 8 feet tall, their primate sculptures look back at you with carved senna-wood eyes, framed by cascades of lantana “fur” from the forests and communities of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
Based in Gudalur in the Nilgiris, The Elephant People is a social enterprise born from The Real Elephant Collective, the team behind the Great Elephant Migration’s life-sized lantana elephants that many in Bengaluru and beyond have already met. For over a decade, this collective has been crafting sculptures modelled on real wild elephants they live alongside, using the invasive shrub Lantana camara as both material and metaphor. Co-founder Dr Tarsh Thekaekara’s work on invasive species, carbon, and coexistence in the Nilgiris was inspired by the intent to make ecological science accessible to the public at large.
With the primate series, that coexistence story shifts from megafauna to the often-overlooked monkeys and apes sharing the same fragmented habitats. The 'Primates of India' collection already includes hand-carved masks of Phayre’s leaf monkey, capped langur, Nilgiri langur, northern pig-tailed macaque, and male and female hoolock gibbons. The new 4–8 ft sculptures scale those faces up into forms more suitable for public, spatial encounters, much like the ones at the recent Sixth Sense Festival in Bengaluru.
The sculptures combine stems of Lantana camara with timber from Senna spectabilis, another aggressively spreading invasive tree that chokes out native grasses. Invasive trees and shrubs affect wildlife, mainly by changing their habitat and food supply. As per research, this has been a factor in increased human wildlife conflict.
Rhea Antony Bennan, who handles Storytelling & Branding at The Elephant People, explains things further:
“We work with woody invasives to create handmade products inspired by the forests. The primate sculptures have monkey 'hair’ woven from lantana, faces carved from senna.” Behind the aesthetic is a quiet, unassuming, but thorough engine. The Elephant People work closely with a research team to track how changing forest composition alters wildlife behaviour.
“The adivasi communities are the centre of our work. Ten percent of every product sold goes back into conservation projects, from forest restoration to children’s engagement programmes ”, she adds. In that sense, each primate sculpture is an intervention twice over: a material diversion of harmful biomass into long-lived art, and a way to give back to the communities living in the Nilgiris.
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