The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) has worked for over 38 years to protect Africa’s elephants and wildlife. The charity was set up in 1977 by Dame Daphne Sheldrick DBE in memory of her late husband David Sheldrick MBE. He was the founding warden of Tsavo National Park in Kenya and the DSWT has since worked to continue and preserve his conservation legacy. Award-winning artist Dominique Salm has been a supporter of the Trust for a long time. Her latest series of drawings were inspired by the elephant orphans currently in the DSWT’s care at its orphanage in Nairobi National Park.

The drawing series, ‘Survivors’, was created in honour of a joint exhibition in London to highlight World Elephant Day that takes place on August 12 each year. Five of these drawings will now be for sale at the DSWT’s Harambee Gala Dinner on Friday 25 September at the Landmark Hotel in London Fifty per cent of funds raised from the sale of the artworks will benefit DSWT’s lifesaving conservation work to protect, conserve and preserve wildlife in Kenya, including the orphaned elephants depicted in Dominique’s drawings.

essence asked Dominique about the reasons behind her inspiration to produce this unique series of artworks.

Q Why did you choose elephants as the subject matter for the artworks and call the series ‘Survivors’?
A To support elephants was a natural choice as I have always been passionate about these special animals. I have admired the work of the DSWT for a long time and so wanted to do something to help the charity. Anybody who has spent time with elephants will realise what majestic, knowledgeable, loyal and emotional animals they are. I can’t bear the idea that anybody would want to hurt them and for such unnecessary reasons. People tend to take it for granted that these gentle giants will be with us forever, but they don’t realise how bad the crisis is. We need to let the world know and get help to protect them.

Q What was the inspiration behind your artworks?
A I have visited The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust’s elephant orphanage in Nairobi several times and have always had an amazing experience. I make it my mission every time I go to Kenya to call in and say hello. My last visit was especially memorable though as I got to spend an entire afternoon hanging out and playing with the infants and their keepers whilst taking photos of them.

Q Can you explain the style of the art?
A I was watching the elephants in the wild in Kenya on one particular occasion and was marveling at how red they were from rolling and spraying the dust. I was wondering how I could translate that in my work, so I came up with the idea of using the actual earth as a pastel and it worked well! I spend hours taking photos for my pieces and it’s usually a particular photo of a moment in time that captures my interest and inspires me. I like to capture the character of the animals and the idea of the moment. I usually start with the eyes as it’s all about the eyes.

Artist biography

Award-winning artist Dominique Salm is internationally acclaimed and is becoming sought after with requests to show her work in both private and public collections worldwide, including Paris and California.

Her remarkably naturalistic animal portraits have an almost snapshot quality, showing her unique ability to capture the personality, charm and grace of each creature whilst imparting humour and character to many of her pieces.

Dominique was shortlisted for the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year in both 2008 and 2010. She was also the winner of the 2009 BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year, World Mammals category.

Dominique regularly contributes her work to many wildlife charities. In 2010 she was asked to design one of the elephants for the London Elephant Parade which the charity Traffic chose to sponsor and which was later sold at auction for £14,000. More recently, her work has been sponsored by Snow Leopard Vodka which is involved in the conservation of the Snow Leopard by donating 15% of all their sales to the Snow Leopard Trust.

Gala dinner

The Harambee 2015 dinner on Friday 25 September will mark the DSWT’s biggest event of the year. Key speakers, wildlife conservationists and special guests will celebrate the work of the DSWT and all that has been achieved for wildlife over the past 38 years.

Dame Daphne Sheldrick and her family will also be travelling from Kenya for the occasion. The black tie event will raise funds directly for the DSWT’s life-saving work to:
• Tackle illegal ivory poaching
• Offer first class veterinary support to injured wild animals
• Rescue and hand-rear orphaned baby elephants in need
• Work with local communities to stem human-wildlife conflict

Further details and tickets can be obtained from the Gala website at: www.thedswt.org.uk

essence info

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Second floor, 3 Bridge Street, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 8BL
Telephone: 01372 378321
Email: infouk@sheldrickwildlifetrust.org
Websites: www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org and www.dominiquesalm.co.uk