Bringing the Bones to Life
Mark Coreth creates a tiger for WWF at the Thames Festival
If you head down to the front of the Globe Theatre between 4-19 September you’ll come face to face with a life-sized tiger.
Starting as a wire and plaster skeleton, sculptor Mark Coreth will build up the tiger’s body in plaster with the help of volunteers from the public. This transformation will produce a magnificent tigress climbing down to her cub in time for the Mayor’s Thames' Festival, London’s largest free outdoor arts festival, which takes place on 11th & 12th September 2010.
With as few as 3,200 tigers left in the wild - the lowest number since records began, Bringing the Bones to Life is part of WWF’s Year of the Tiger campaign, which aims to help double tiger numbers by 2022 – the next Chinese Year of the Tiger, and takes place ahead of the first ever Global Tiger Summit, due to be held in Russia later this year. WWF is calling on people to sign a petition to show their support for action to save the tiger, which will be presented to negotiators at the summit in St Petersberg.
As well as habitat destruction and poaching, it was the future threat posed by climate change to the Ganges tiger that inspired Mark to create this exhibit.
“The fate of the polar bear and the Sundarbans tiger are both linked to melting ice. Sea ice melt will decimate the polar bear, whilst a metre rise in sea levels will wipe out the world’s largest remaining tiger habitat. Sculpture is a powerful language and the threat to the Tiger is a tale that needs to be told.” Mark Coreth
“Mark Coreth’s sculptures are a positive way of telling the story of a species in decline. Bringing the Bones to Life is a really exciting chance to get the public involved in our work.” Colin Butfield, Head of Campaigns at WWF-UK.
