Mother Eastern Lowland Gorilla

LOCATIONS

PERTH 
May 2023 - August 2023
WA Museum, Perth Cultural Centre, Perth WA 6000
Visit the sculpture, click for map >
 

VISIT THE EXHIBITION WEBSITE


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August 2023 - Permanent Exhibition
Perth Zoo, 20 Labouchere Rd, South Perth WA 6151
Visit the sculpture, click for map >
 

> DOWNLOAD MAP HERE TO FIND ANIMALS  (Coming Soon)

CLICK HERE TO DONATE DIRECTLY TO WWF AUSTRALIA  

TITLE
Wild Mother Eastern Lowland Gorilla

GENDER
Female

AGE
30

FOUND
East Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

CONSERVATION STATUS
Critically Endangered

This 30-year-old gorilla has had many children in her time. Living in the forests of DRC, where civil war was all around her, she knew that the world needed love and protection, especially her babies. She didn’t want to protect only her own, she wanted to protect every baby all over the world, but there was no way she could do this alone. She looked to her closest relatives, the ones who had caused so much destruction in her home but also the ones she had witnessed having an endless capacity for love; humans. She looks to them to become protectors alongside her and guardians of all wildlife.

Also known as Grauer’s gorilla, the eastern lowland gorilla is the largest out of the four gorilla species and one of our closest relatives sharing 98% of our DNA. Their fur is jet black and the males develop a beautiful silver fur on their backs as they mature, giving them the name silverback. They spend most of their time eating their favourite foods which include fruits, leaves, stems, bark, and on occasion small insects such as ants and termites.

Eastern lowland gorillas are very social and very peaceful animals. They live in groups, from 2 to over 40 members, mainly female and led by a dominant male. About a third of the groups have two full-grown males, creating a harem. Females and males reach sexual maturity at different ages: 8 years old for females and 12 years old for males. A mother will give birth to one baby at a time who she will breastfeed for about three years. The baby will stay close to its mother for protection even when they start to walk at 35 weeks old. They will stay with her for three or four years before finding their own community once they reach sexual maturity.

The numbers of eastern lowland gorilla are estimated to be around 3,800, a 50% decline since the 90s. However, it is difficult to know for sure because of the civil unrest that has been raging in the DRC for decades. The gorillas face many threats concerning this, their national parks having their funding cut, illegal mines being set up in their homes, and less monitoring making it easier for people to hunt gorillas for bushmeat. One of the things that fuelled the civil unrest is mining for tin, gold, diamond, and coltan (used in cell phones). Illegal mining outcrops have popped up all over the gorilla’s home, which also attracts people to hunt gorilla and trade the babies on the illegal pet trade. They have also faced massive habitat loss and fragmentation as people move in and destroy the gorilla’s homes for livestock. 

HOW TO HELP 
​Based off real animals that Gillie and Marc met while travelling, the public will be able to meet individual animals. 

With public art, more people will come into contact with these sculptures, will stop and consider them, will take a photograph, and will discuss this with their friends and family. Through this increased exposure, the message of love, family, and conservation will be spread much further than any piece of art in a gallery ever could. It will bring people into close contact and will help them to fall in love. With love comes a greater urge to want to create a change and save all endangered animals. 

​The sculpture will be aligned with the hashtags #LoveTheLast and #wildaboutbabies to raise unparalleled awareness about the sculpture’s cause across the globe.

To help protect these babies you can adopt them and help them via the WWF: > Click here: www.wwf.org.au 

If you are interested in buying Wild About Babies related art, you will also be directly helping real babies in the wild with 30% going to WWF to continue their fantastic work for animals conservation: Click here to browse art https://gillieandmarc.com/collections/wild-about-babies

ABOUT GILLIE AND MARC
Gillie and Marc’s highly coveted public artworks can be found worldwide including in New York, London, Singapore, Shanghai, and Sydney. They are Archibald Prize finalists, won the Chianciano Biennale in Italy, took out the Allens People’s Choice Award in 2016 and 2018 and Kids’ Choice Award in the 2016 Sculpture by the Sea and received the Bayside Arts Festival People's Choice Award in 2019 in Sydney.

The husband-and-wife duo are on a mission to make art for a better tomorrow. They are best known for their beloved characters, Rabbitwoman and Dogman, who tell the autobiographical tale of two opposites coming together as best friends and soul mates.

Gillie and Marc are also passionate eco-warriors and have dedicated their lives to protecting nature.

Gillie grew up with the wildlife in Zambia and Marc studied chimpanzees in Tanzania as a young man. Over time, the artists developed a deep appreciation for all living things and a desire to preserve the magnificence of the natural world. 

Through their art, Gillie and Marc aim to transform passive audiences into passionate advocates for animal conservation. Their mission is to use their work as a platform to continue spreading awareness about endangerment, which will ultimately lead to change and save species from extinction.

Their art has raised hundreds of thousands in donations for the many wildlife charities and causes they support through their project Love The Last.

Please follow @gillieandmarcart