London artist Nandita Chaudhuri was on hand to meet members of the public interested in her model elephant which is part of a huge public art exhibition running in the nation's capital.

Nandita's elephant BOOGIE WOO in Soho Square is one of 250 of the unique, life-sized adolescent elephants which are part of London's biggest-ever public art event, The Elephant Parade. The event is designed to raise money for elephants throughout the world and is organised by the Elephant Family charity, who raise awareness of the plight that faces many of our big-eared friends.

The painted elephants appear around a number of London landmarks until the end of the month, while the elephants will be auctioned off when the exhibition ends on June 30 with the money going to benefit UK conservation charities working in Asia.

Nandita said: "The whole experience has been a lot of fun and really great – definitely one of the most exciting things I've done in my time as an artist.

"Whenever I've gone to see BOOGIE WOO there has always been lots of people there and children climbing on the elephant. I'm very proud of the reaction the elephant brings out in people, and it's always crowded.

"I didn't want the elephant to be in a world of its own. I think the design reflects the environment it's in – BOOGIE WOO is a happy elephant!

"I didn't want anything too serious so ended up with an elephant wearing different kinds of shoes and sneakers, so it's also a fun elephant.

Nandita said she got involved in the London Elephant Parade through word of mouth and was more than happy to participate. "One of the driving forces was because it was going to be for charity," she said. "Every year I give paintings away to charity and it's very important you do your little bit.

"The elephants were like blank canvases when they arrived and none of the 250 look the same so it is a great exhibition."

And because all the replicas of BOOGIE WOO are completely sold out in Selfridges and in stores on Regent Street and Carnaby Street, there is now only the original left to look at before it gets auctioned off at Sotheby's at the end of the month.

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