The 4th leg of the To The Bone mural tour saw Sonny painting a huge mural of a Far Eastern Leopard, one of the world’s most endangered big cats, in Vladivostok in the Russian Far East.
The mural aims to raise awareness for the Amur leopard of which there are only 80 left in the wild, and was supported by IFAW Russia and the Russian NGO, Far Eastern Leopards.
“We are very glad that this project took place in Russia as part of the Sonny’s global action To The Bone, with IFAW supporting it worldwide, and Vladivostok has now a gigantic mural of such strong, gracious and at the same time vulnerable animal like the Far Eastern Leopard. This is not just a sign that environmentalists worldwide pay attention to the conservation of this rare big cat, but also an appeal to protect the endangered species in general.”
– Masha Vorontsova, IFAW Russia Director
The mural is 250m² in size and is made up of over 200 different shades of colour, and sits high up on a hill looking down over the city of Vladivostok.
“Losing the Amur leopard would mean losing of a part of our culture, a part of our pride. I’m sure that this leopard sitting on the top of the hill will not just become a city’s landmark figure, but will also remind the people of how critical it is to treat the nature carefully, and push them for change of their approach to wildlife.”
– Tayana Baranovskaya, Director of the National Park Land of the Leopards.
While Sonny was in Russia he was also able to visit the Land of the Leopards’ to see the good work that is being done to protect these rare but beautiful animals.
“Sonny’s works makes one think of the acute contemporary problems, of the eternal values and one’s personal role in this world. The clearly shaped image of the mural would never leave indifferent even a bait viewer, which you can meet quite frequently in the modern city.”
– Elena Gongalo, Director General of the Far Eastern Leopards non-commercial organization
