Ryan Gander: Elephant Park

Know not your place in the world, 2024

CAS *Consultancy worked with award-winning British artist Ryan Gander on his first public art commission in London. The six life-sized bronze sculptures were created by Ryan in collaboration with local school children. The artworks were commissioned by Lendlease for Elephant Park. 

The sculptures were created through a series of workshops with children from three local primary schools. During the workshops, led by Ryan and the South London Gallery education team, the children explored possibilities for their futures together, and engaged in place-making activities relevant to their personal, local, and global contexts. The project’s aim was to create positive stories for young people and help them reflect on the diversity and vibrancy of their own communities and place in the world.  

Ryan’s final artwork consists of three pairs of sculptures, each created in collaboration with the children. One is a figurative sculpture of a child wearing clothing of their own choosing rather than clothes dictated by function or social convention. The other is an abstract sculpture, developed during a discussion-led workshop with Ryan at the end of 2021. When installed together, each sculptural pair showcases a unique interaction between the figurative and abstract elements, reflecting the artist’s interpretation and insights from class discussions.

Ryan’s work invites viewers to add their own associations and stories, engaging with their ability to imagine. The sculptures for Elephant Park depict children dressed in imaginative costumes, unconstrained by tradition or convention. Their choices represent pure imagination and agency, continuing Ryan’s exploration of play and make-believe as catalysts for creativity.

Located in Elephant Park, the artwork enhances the area's existing cultural landscape. Elephant Park is the £2.5bn regeneration project in Elephant & Castle jointly delivered by Lendlease and Southwark Council. It is centred around the new two-acre leafy park and the sculptures form a memorable feature for local communities and visitors. They show the power of art in a community and inspire the next generation of artists and creative thinkers.

Ryan Gander was invited to the role following a curatorial process led by *Consultancy. We previously delivered the Public Art Strategy for Elephant Park in 2018, see: Public Art Strategy for Elephant Park

About Ryan Gander

Ryan Gander has established an international reputation through artworks that materialise in many different forms – from sculpture to film, writing, graphic design, installation, performance and more besides. Through associative thought processes that connect the everyday and the esoteric, the overlooked and the commonplace, Gander’s work involves a questioning of language and knowledge, as well as a reinvention of both the modes of appearance and the creation of an artwork. His work can be reminiscent of a puzzle, or a network with multiple connections and the fragments of an embedded story. It is ultimately a huge set of hidden clues to be deciphered, encouraging viewers to make their own associations and invent their own narrative to unravel the complexities staged by the artist.

Ryan Gander RA OBE (born 1976, Chester, UK) lives and works in Suffolk and London. He studied at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK; the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam, Netherlands; and the Jan van Eyck Akademie, Maastricht, Netherlands. The artist has been a Professor of Visual Art at the University of Huddersfield and holds an honorary Doctor of the Arts at the Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Suffolk. In 2017 he was awarded an OBE for services to contemporary art. In 2019 he was awarded the Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University. In 2022, he was made RA for the category of Sculpture.