As a child growing up in Denmark, Thomas Dambo believed the creatures of Scandinavian myth and legend — elves, fairies, trolls – were real. Today, he is more inclined to say: “There is something in the world that you can’t really explain.
“In the Nordic countries a lot of that was explained by mythical creatures like trolls, gnomes, elves,” the artist continues. “Some people say the reasons there are not so many trolls in Denmark now is that when Christianity came and built churches in Denmark, all the trolls had to leave because they didn’t like the sound of the church bells. There’s probably some truth to that.”
But not even the most imaginative Danish child could envision the gigantic trolls that Dambo now creates: massive wooden creatures, some big enough to fill a good-sized family room, made entirely of scavenged wood, found natural objects and discarded junk, and plunked down all over the world in unlikely places.
The latest of which is Atlanta Botanical Garden, which has just opened the world premiere of the recycling art activist’s latest exhibit, “Trolls: Save the Humans.”
Credit: Courtesy of Atlanta Botanical Garden
Credit: Courtesy of Atlanta Botanical Garden
Six of the massive but very sweet-looking creations are sprinkled throughout the garden. It’s not as large an exhibit as some past Atlanta Botanical Garden shows like Dale Chihuly’s glass sculptures or Kevin Box’s “Origami in the Garden” in 2022, but it continues ABG’s approach to seeding its Midtown acreage with surprising art.
“I didn’t plan out for this to all happen,” Dambo says of his unusual art form. “It combines things I love to do: Build things, dumpster dive, explore the forest, and play with my friends. Those are the ingredients for my favorite troll stew.”
Dambo, 43, the son of creative Danish hippie parents, has been a street/graffiti artist and a rapper, but has especially enjoyed making objects out of trash since he was a child. When he was about 6 years old, he made a hinged wooden box from scrap material to hold his baby brother’s pacifier.
He began creating wooden trolls about 10 years ago. “I grew up hearing stories about trolls,” he says, “so it came naturally to me that if I wanted to build a story about something that lives in the forest, then it would be a troll.”
Credit: Courtesy of Atlanta Botanical Garden
Credit: Courtesy of Atlanta Botanical Garden
For those early trolls, he gathered wood, mainly from discarded shipping pallets, and brought some friends together to help achieve the scale he wanted. Word spread among arts festivals and patrons of the odd, and he received invitations to travel and create installations. Sometimes he “hides” his sculptures in forests or natural settings for people to happen upon, unawares. A guide to the 100 or so trolls he has made can be found at trollmap.com.
For the Atlanta exhibit, Dambo and his creative crew of about 21 friends and fellow artists, most of whom he has hired as full-time employees, gathered the wood and built the six trolls in Denmark, then broke them down, shipped them, and reassembled them in Atlanta. The intention is for them to travel to other U.S. cities after September, although those plans have not been firmed up yet.
“This exhibition is the perfect fit for helping us spread the sustainability message among our guests,” says Mary Pat Matheson, the Garden’s president and CEO.
In Dambo’s rather elaborate personal troll mythology, trolls protect the natural world. “They are in a fight with humanity about how to behave in the natural world,” he says. “The old trolls in my stories want to eat the humans because the humans are messing up the world. But this exhibition is called ‘Save the Humans,’ because the six young trolls here in Atlanta want to save the humans from being eaten by the old trolls.”
Credit: Courtesy of Atlanta Botanical Garden
Credit: Courtesy of Atlanta Botanical Garden
Each troll has a name, such as Rosa Sunfinger or Kamma Can, and a distinct persona/role, such as being a messy wild child, a friend to animals, or a sensitive introvert.
Dambo says he hopes visitors enjoy the whimsy and hard work that has gone into the trolls, but also that they ponder his message.
“I hope that people will learn something about nature and sustainability,” he says. “When I was a child I looked at a dumpster and saw a beautiful thing I could use to change the world. The world is limited and if we keep changing the world into a big landfill then we will run out of room and we will all just live in a big landfill.”
IF YOU GO
“Trolls: Save the Humans”
Through Sept. 17. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays. Included in regular garden admission; 24.95 for adults, $21.95 for children 3-12. Atlanta Botanical Garden, 1345 Piedmont Ave., Atlanta. 404-876-5859, atlantabg.org.
