The artist...
Born and raised in Norfolk, Chris (www.cwright.co.uk) lives in London, combining his two main passions – art and wildlife – working as an artist and, since 2006, as Programmes Officer for the Born Free Foundation in Horsham. Chris is self-taught artist from an early age.

His drawing of Titus is now on sale at the BornFree online shop.
£10 (~30% of profits) per print sold via the YoG website go to a YoG project.

...and his model
Titus, the silverback Mountain Gorilla, recently featured in a phenomenal TV documentary charting the remarkable history of the oldest known patriarch of his kind. The photograph that inspired this drawing was taken by Chris' colleague and renowned primatologist, Ian Redmond OBE, who studied the gorillas under Dian Fossey.

The following is a testimonial about the picture by Ian Redmond, YoG Ambassador:

“It seems strange that a few pencil lines on a piece of paper can sometimes say more than the millions of pixels in a colour photograph, but if Chris Wright was holding the pencil, they do.  There is something about the way an artist interacts with reality that brings out something more, and this beautiful drawing captures the very essence of Titus, a splendid silverback mountain gorilla I have known since he was two.  

I don’t know how Chris does it, but as well as portraying the impressive strength of character in this old silverback’s face, there is a vulnerability about the eyes which seems to seek our help.   How apt, then, that Chris is donating 60 per cent of the profits from sales of this print to help gorilla projects, half through the Born Free Foundation and half through projects selected by the UN Year of the Gorilla. How can you resist?  Indulge yourself and hang my old friend on your wall and in so doing, help all gorillas have a future.”

To find out more about Chris Wright, click here

To view our other Art4Gorillas fundraising offers, click here.