'STOP abusing animals': Russian photographer trolled in Jaipur for painting elephant pink for photoshoot

The otherwise calm and touristy streets of the Rajasthani capital Jaipur have been filled with calls for stopping animal abuse and cruelty online. The rage has been fuelled by surfacing of photos where a woman painted in pink can be seen sitting upon a pink-coloured elephant.

While at first glance, one might attribute the image to an AI creation, deeper research reveals it was a human fantasy. The shoot was conducted by Russian travel photographer Julia Buruleva. As per Buruleva, her six-week stay in the popular pink city inspired the concept for her creative idea. She said the city's iconic pink hue led to the idea of featuring a pink elephant alongside a model, Yashasvi, with a heritage backdrop.

Calling elephants a key symbol of Rajasthan, she said their inclusion in the project felt essential. However, for the viewers, the photos were less eloquent in portraying the Rajasthani heritage and more in highlighting the leeway taken in the name of creative freedom to paint an entire elephant pink. As the photos went viral on social media platforms, many called out Buruleva and the animal rights authorities for the act.

"STOP abusing animals !!! You can just colour it in postproduction or even use AI Do your homework and stay away from animals," wrote a user on X (formerly Twitter). "The 'foreign artist', Julia Buruleva, proudly claims she does not rely on digital fabrication or AI and each of her works is staged and executed in real space - like painting an elephant pink because the hapless animal has no voice and had no choice while she held all the cards," condemned another. "Where is PETA when the animals actually need them?" questioned one. "Did this for rage bait, didn’t you? Stop calling exploitation art. It’s sad," slammed one. Another user pointed out how if the photoshoot was done by an Indian artist in the country or elsewhere, the outrage would have been "unreal" with the artist being called "uneducated and what not." "But since it’s a foreign artist, this won’t get Viral at all, may stay in the bulletins for about an hour or so" they wrote. According to Buruleva, the paint used to colour the elephant pink was organic, locally sourced and similar to the colours traditionally applied to elephants during festivals. She said the process involved multiple visits to elephant facilities and efforts to secure permissions and locations. She finally settled on an abandoned temple of Lord Ganesha, as per her post on Instagram. Shadik Khan, the elephant's owner, revealed her name to be Chanchal and age to be 65 years old. He said she was no longer used for rides and added that only kaccha gulal was applied to her body for a brief period of 10 minutes and washed off immediately. He added that Chanchal passed away in February and no harm was caused.