16" x 20" framed print, These Tusks, by photographer Lisa Kristine.

THESE TUSKS, THAILAND

Deeply rooted in Thai culture, elephant training has traditionally been a familial heritage passed down through the generations. A mahout, one who ‘drives’ an elephant, is typically young when he is entrusted with an adolescent elephant to train. The pair will remain together throughout the elephant’s lifespan of around seventy years of age. As part of the daily routine, mahouts bring their elephants to bathe in the rivers. Here the mahout ushers his animal into the river with a tender intimacy. The pair sleep twenty feet from each other at night. Before 1989, most domestic elephants were used for logging and forest service to haul logs up mountains. This became illegal as widespread destruction of Thailand’s forests resulted in worsening monsoons. Unlike the elephant populations of India and Africa, 95% of Thailand’s elephants are domesticated working elephants and privately owned.

Acclaimed humanitarian photographer Lisa Kristine creates more than images, she inspires change. A master storyteller, Lisa documents indigenous cultures in more than 100 countries on six continents, instinctively identifying the universal human dignity in all of us. Awakening compassion and igniting action in a worldwide audience with powerful, broad-sweeping images of courage and tender, intimate portrayals, Lisa elevates significant social causes—such as the elimination of human slavery and the unification of humanity—to missions. Her work resonates in the heart and moves us to act.

http://www.lisakristine.com