Nelly the Elephant and Her Unnamed Baby

Location: Shepherd Street
What3Words address: punchy.shack.fires
Year created: 2022
Date photographed: 30/04/2022
Artist(s): Robin Loxley

Another piece by Robin Loxley in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This artwork is more subtle than his previous pieces, like his ‘Who Tho Fuck Is’ paste-ups around the corner from this one. It features Nelly the elephant with her unnamed child in tow and takes inspiration from the children’s classic Nellie the Elephant who packed her trunk and said goodbye to the circus. It symbolises the many women and children who have fled the now war-torn Ukraine.

Loxley has reutilising an old chimney on a derelict building as Nelly’s trunk.

The use of elephants here is also a tribute to Sheffield’s Lizzie, an elephant who worked hard during World War I to keep the city’s industries going. Lizzie inspired the inspiration for 2016’s Herd of Sheffield sculpture trail.