Sperrin Mountains Sculpture Trail

In collaboration with Danish Artist Thomas Dambo

Three councils joined in a venture to create a trail of iconic sculptures, with sites identified at Davagh Forest, Mullaghcarn Mountain and in the Glenelly Valley. Jennifer Young in conjunction with Thomas Dambo won an open tender in 2019 for a project with the Northern Ireland tag line ‘Embrace the Giant Spirit’ – with her pitch being that the sculptures should be giants.  Accordingly they set out to develop a concept for each giant and its setting together with the objective of taking the visitor on a journey back to the Celtic and Neolithic myths of giants and magical tales while merging in aspects of ancient history and the environment amongst the scenic backdrop to the Sperrins.

Jennifer Young carried out baseline research into the history and geology of the Sperrins and from this, devised the original concepts behind the sculptures.  Each giant had a story which connected it with people and place and the key consideration was how to embrace the natural beauty of the landscape while introducing something new and striking that would enhance the setting and allow visitors to notice, reflect, embrace and cherish this place.