Elk Place Median
135 Elk Place.
Across from Tulane School of Social Work.
World's Fair 1984
"The Source"
(La Source).
Public Art on Elk Place
Artists: Claude & François-Xavier Lalanne
Fair Legacy
Commissioned specifically for the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition. The fair's theme, "Fresh Water as a Source of Life," drove the design of this large, stylized concrete head, originally intended to function as a fountain.
Design Intent: Water was meant to flow from the eyes into a pool below, symbolizing life's origin.
Current State
Moved to the Elk Place median after the fair. While it remains a unique piece of surrealist public art by the celebrated French duo, it has suffered from periods of neglect and hydraulic failure.
Conservation Note
Water features are often inactive due to leaks. The sculpture stands dry, emphasizing its form over its function.
Visitor Protocol
Access Level
Free / 24 Hours. Located on a public street neutral ground.
Urban Setting
Situated in a high-traffic corridor. Caution advised when accessing the median.
Theme: Fresh Water as a Source of Life
A surrealist remnant of 1984
History & Background
The Source Sculpture is a work of public art in New Orleans that engages with themes of origin, water, and life. Sculptures with this type of symbolic theme are often associated with the city's profound connection to water — the Mississippi River that built the land, the Lake Pontchartrain to the north, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and the complex drainage canals that keep the below-sea-level city from flooding. In New Orleans, water is simultaneously the source of life and an existential threat.
Public sculpture in New Orleans has a rich tradition going back to the 19th century. The city's wealth — built through the port, the sugar and cotton trade, and banking — funded elaborate civic art, monuments, and architecture. Many of the older monuments reflect the Confederacy or the plantation economy, and the city has engaged in ongoing debates about which historical figures deserve public commemoration. Contemporary sculptures like The Source represent a different tradition: public art that engages with nature, ecology, or abstract themes rather than historical individuals.
Post-Katrina New Orleans saw a renewed interest in public art as part of cultural recovery and civic identity. Sculptures, murals, and installations appeared across the city as expressions of resilience and community. The Source Sculpture, situated within this cultural context, invites viewers to consider the fundamental elements — water, earth, life — that sustain and threaten the city in equal measure. It represents New Orleans' capacity to create meaning and beauty from its complicated relationship with its natural environment.
Nearby Attractions
Audubon Park
A beautifully landscaped park along the Mississippi River in Uptown New Orleans, Audubon Park was the site of the 1884 World Cotton Centennial Exposition. Today it hosts a golf course, lagoon walking paths, and the Audubon Zoo. Ancient live oak trees draped in Spanish moss create a distinctive Louisiana atmosphere, and the park connects to the riverfront levee via a tunnel under Magazine Street.
Audubon Zoo
One of the top-ranked zoos in the United States, Audubon Zoo features a Louisiana Swamp exhibit with alligators, black bears, and river otters in their native habitat. The zoo is part of the Audubon Nature Institute, which also operates the Aquarium of the Americas and Insectarium. It offers an excellent introduction to the unique wildlife of the Gulf South.
Magazine Street
Running six miles through Uptown New Orleans, Magazine Street is one of the city's premier shopping and dining corridors. Antique shops, galleries, boutiques, and local restaurants alternate with grand Victorian homes. The street provides an excellent walking or streetcar-accessible tour of the residential character of Uptown neighborhoods, far from the tourist concentration of the French Quarter.