NEW YORK CITY - #FREE HAPPY (DECEMBER 2025- MARCH 2026)
Artist and activist Cynthia von Buhler to launch #FreeHappy campaign with street art installation and a billboard campaign with SaveArtSpace
Artist and activist Cynthia von Buhler to launch #FreeHappy campaign with street art installation and a billboard campaign with SaveArtSpace
The actual bars and fences that line New York's overpasses, scaffolding, construction sites, and apartment windows will frame images of Happy, an elephant held in solitary captivity at the Bronx Zoo for nearly 50 years, turning the city's existing barriers into symbols of her confinement.
Artist and activist Cynthia von Buhler created the street art campaign, encouraging anyone to remove the banners as a symbolic act of "freeing" Happy. On December 5, her #FreeHappy campaign expanded to billboards across the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn, featuring elephant-inspired artwork from von Buhler and five other artists, reaching more than 660,000 viewers weekly and calling to #FreeHappy. Von Buhler partnered with SaveArtSpace, a nonprofit that transforms advertising spaces into public art exhibitions, for the billboard campaign that will run through early 2026.
Taken from her herd in Thailand as a baby, Happy has lived at the Bronx Zoo without the companionship of other elephants for decades. The campaign supports ongoing legal efforts by the Nonhuman Rights Project and Intro 213, a bill sponsored by NYC Council Member Shahana Hanif, which requires entities in New York City holding elephants in captivity to relocate them to appropriate facilities that can meet their complex physical and psychological needs, unless they meet very strict conditions.
“Elephants are deeply social animals who suffer from loneliness, stress, and depression in isolation, and Happy deserves to live in a sanctuary where she can finally have the freedom, companionship, and care she needs,” says von Buhler. By putting her image behind bars all across the city, we're showing New Yorkers exactly what her life looks like and giving them the tools to help end this cruelty.”
BILLBOARDS
STREET ART
A drawing of Happy, Bronx Zoo elephant held in solitary captivity for 50 years, to appear behind actual bars on overpasses and construction sites across NYC
Von Buhler has spent years using multiple art forms to advocate for animals and social causes. In 2019, she traveled to Australia's Kangaroo Island to assist animals impacted by wildfires, documenting the experience in an illustrated journal for The Washington Post. In 2024, she embedded with the Akashinga, an all-female anti-poaching unit in Africa, for an upcoming publication. She runs The Fur Gnarl, a sanctuary for rescued pigs, chickens, and pigeons, and in 2025 received an Arts Advocacy Award from the Mark Twain Museum. Von Buhler is also collaborating with Chris Green Kinetics to create a 15-foot puppet of Forestina, the protagonist of her eco-fable graphic novel, which is being adapted into an animated film. The puppet will tour globally starting in April 2026 to support reforestation efforts.
SaveArtSpace is a nonprofit that transforms advertising spaces into public art exhibitions. The #FreeHappy billboard exhibition features artwork from five other artists:
SaveArtSpace is a nonprofit that transforms advertising spaces into public art exhibitions. The #FreeHappy billboard exhibition features artwork from five other artists:
- Cynthia von Buhler (NYC): Atlantic Ave & Utica Ave, Crown Heights, Brooklyn
- Carolyn Tripp (Kitchener, Canada): Artist and designer whose work is inspired by nature and nostalgia - Atlantic Ave & Classon Ave, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
- Anne Spalter (NYC): Digital artist who founded the first digital fine arts courses at Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design - Morgan Ave & Stagg St, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn
- Diane Matyas (NYC): Created a monoprint depicting an elephant that escaped Luna Park on Coney Island in 1904 and swam across New York Bay to Staten Island in her effort to be free - E 177th St & Devoe Ave, West Farms, Bronx
- Kelli Bickman (NYC): Multidisciplinary artist whose Ganesha imagery grew from travels in India where she studied temple art and lived in a Tibetan Buddhist nunnery - 44th St & Astoria Blvd S, Astoria, Queens
- Lisa Goldberg (NYC): Mixed-media artist and illustrator who creates work specifically to raise awareness about animals used for human entertainment - Steinway St & 23rd Rd, Astoria, Queens
How can you help?
Contact Your NYC Council Member: If you live in New York contact your council member and tell them to vote to pass "Intro 213," the bill which requires that any entity in the city holding elephants captive relocate them to a facility that can meet their complex physical and psychological needs. Input your address to get the contact info for their council member: https://council.nyc.gov/districts/ If you don't live in NYC ask your NYC friends to help out.
Join the street team: [email protected]
Request a window cling (free): [email protected] (Include name and address)
Contact Your NYC Council Member: If you live in New York contact your council member and tell them to vote to pass "Intro 213," the bill which requires that any entity in the city holding elephants captive relocate them to a facility that can meet their complex physical and psychological needs. Input your address to get the contact info for their council member: https://council.nyc.gov/districts/ If you don't live in NYC ask your NYC friends to help out.
Join the street team: [email protected]
Request a window cling (free): [email protected] (Include name and address)
WORLDWIDE - FORESTINA PUPPET (APRIL 2026)
When I saw Little Amal—a massive puppet representing war refugees, created by the makers of War Horse—I felt the world needed a similar project to promote environmental awareness. That inspired the creation of Forestina, a 15-foot puppet based on my tree-girl character, currently being built by Chris Green Kinetics. She will travel the world, walking through parks, along streets, and appearing in parades and public events. Forestina’s mission is to raise awareness about environmental issues and support fundraising efforts for environmental charities.
— CvB
— CvB
WASHINGTON, DC - FEARLESS GIRLS SCULPTURES (OCTOBER 2020)
Dozens of sculptures were installed in the unused antique call boxes on the streets of Washington, DC, a month before the November 2020 presidential election. Additional pieces were placed at Black Lives Matter Plaza and in local parks. The artworks addressed the national debate surrounding the removal of Confederate monuments, the legacy of slavery, and the broader political climate leading up to the 2020 election. - CvB
Replace "The Emancipation Memorial" With "Stepping Into His Shoes - Obama and Lincoln"
Thomas Jefferson, his slave Sally Hemings, and their children
Replace the Emancipation Memorial
Confederate Soldiers
NEW YORK CITY - SPEAKEASY DOLLHOUSE DOORS (2014-2018)
One hundred doors were installed throughout New York City, some concealing secret items inside or hidden beneath doormats. -CvB
