"It's funny because with art, with literature, with music, we are all connected. It's emotion. You know, like if I say, "have you read this or that," or… "do you know Alice Coltrane? Do you know John Coltrane?" Whatever it is you've got a language and there's a connection going on. And, we should have that with the world. We should have that feeling of like an artistic sensibility to the world. We do have that with other things. People can talk about movies and they feel connected in a way. Religions connect people… we should be all connected by the Earth." – Warren Ellis
Musician and composer, Warren Ellis of the Dirty Three and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds had an extremely productive pandemic. Not only did he release two albums, two film scores and a book, but he also opened a wildlife sanctuary in Indonesia.
Last spring, Warren co-founded Ellis Park, a forever home for disabled wildlife in South Sumatra. It's a haven for animals who have been rescued from wildlife trafficking who are either too traumatized or too handicapped to be returned to the wild.
Ellis Park will also be used as a hub to educate the public, locals and visitors to the park about the negative impacts on wildlife used in the tourism industry and those saved from the illegal pet trade and wildlife smuggling.
Last fall, Warren published his first book,
Nina Simone's Gum. It's about a piece of gum that Nina Simone was chewing during her final concert in London. As she left the stage, she placed the chewed gum on her piano. Warren noticed and quickly snatched the gum. He kept it for over two decades… until a few years ago, when the gum took on a life of its own. The book is about meaning and connection and trusting intuition when it calls on you to follow a thread, and it's about the love and the magic that we humans are capable of. In many ways Ellis Park has a very similar story.
Links:
Ellis Park: https://www.ellispark.org/
Ellis Park Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/ellisparksumatra/
Ellis Park facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/EllisParkWildlifeSanctuary/
Ellis Park Twitter:
https://twitter.com/EllisPark2021
Warren Ellis Twitter: https://twitter.com/warrenellis13?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Warren Ellis Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewarrenellis/
