Sue Coe first developed an interest in elephants during a 1998 trip to Sri Lanka, where she observed a herd of rescued elephants at close range. Upon her return to the United States, the artist was struck by the degree to which the behavior and demeanor of zoo elephants differs from that of their counterparts in the wild. The present woodcut's punning caption hints at elephants' intrinsic unsuitability to captivity and lends an ebullience to the image it accompanies, while also providing a narrative framework for the scene. She Packed Her Trunk and Said Goodbye to the Circus was part of the series ELEPHANTS WE MUST NEVER FORGET, on view at Galerie St. Etienne, October through December, 2008