Anyone looking for tragedy needs to, literally, do nothing but read, watch, and, god help you, scroll. It’s harder to find joy.

If you are lucky enough to be in Western North Carolina this week, however, exuberant whimsey awaits you at the North Carolina Arboretum. There, you will find Trolls: A Field Study, a temporary outdoor art installation by Danish artist Thomas Dambo, featuring twelve larger-than-life troll sculptures made from reclaimed wood, fallen branches, pallets, and other recycled materials. Each troll stands about seven to nine feet tall and all are scattered throughout the Arboretum’s gardens and trails.

To see them, in person and, I hope, on the screen, is to smile. Each is named and all have risible personas. Posted discretely near each is a sign about them, all of which, using humor and wit, introduce the troll and explain an environmental problem humans have created that the trolls are puzzling over. 

Here, in all their wooden glory are the twelve:

This is Wilde, the first troll you see. He’s fascinated by humans and is drawing, on his pad, a sketch of a human taking a phone picture of him.

This is Larke. She is baffled by all the good stuff humans throw away.

This is Birch. He loves measuring humans. Just like trolls, they come in all shapes and sizes.

This is Hasse. He’s baffled by lawns and, especially lawn mowers. What are the humans doing?!?! He’s hoping that another perspective might give him more clarity.

This is Poppy. She’s still trying to figure out what to do with all these shiny beep things humans love. Eat them? That didn’t work. She’s thinking….

This is Kirse. She loves humans and has figured out that if she is silly, they, especially the little ones, will be silly too.

This is Boge. He’s a little shy around humans. It’s hard to figure out how much to shake them. They seem to do better with gentle hugs.

This is Lilnut. She’s caught some lovely humans in her next. Her favorite was the one who took her home and let her lie down on something called a couch. It was the best!

This is Bignut. He too likes to catch humans, especially the small ones—it’s so easy!

This is Valle. He finds humans a bit much. He likes naps much better.

This is Taks. He’s the youngest troll. He really likes humans. They’re weird but they have the best snacks.

This is Anja. She loves numbers, especially counting. Right now, she’s using stones to keep track of all the humans who come to see her

I loved them all and I hope you did too!

---

This is a post from my new substack–I won’t normally cross post but I couldn’t resist sharing!