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Orla Roche The Elephants of Aida “I love Tomi Ung
erer’s Elephants, Whales & Kangaroos but his Elephants in particular always make me smile. With his beautifully simple line drawings, Tomi fills these Elephants with such personality- a wry humour, wit, resignation, worry and mischief amongst the many emotions they express. While trying to decide which of Tomi Ungerer’s works to choose as inspiration for this exhibition, I came across a social media post from 2018 where Tomi declared “It’s Elephant week all week over on our Twitter account!” So, that was my decision made... it’s Elephants for me too! My tribute to Tomi Ungerer’s inspirational Elephants is based on an article I read many years ago about some comic mishaps in the world of Opera. During one performance of Aida, real Elephants were brought on stage. It seems nobody had thought about whether the stage could actually support these great beasts. One by one the Elephants proceeded to crash through the stage – literally bringing the (Opera) House down!!!” orlaroche.com @orlaroche 27