In rounded mountains and open moorland populated by pine martens, red squirrels, visiting sparrowhawks and eagles stand three extraordinary sculptures. Created by renowned recycle artist Thomas Dambo to represent aspects of the landscape, history and mythology of this region in Northern Ireland, the Giants are the result of a joint initiative by three councils across the Sperrin Mountains.
The first sculpture, in the tranquil Glenelly Valley near Cranagh, is Nowanois the Storyteller (see main image). It depicts a giant pointing to the stars, sharing tales with his younger self, representing the eternal ‘now’, or the present.
The second is the lone figure of Darach the Guardian standing, staff in hand, within a ring of stones, on top of Mullaghcarn Mountain in Gortin Glen Forest Park. This sculpture honours the local tradition of carrying stones up to mountaintop cairns – a custom that has likely been repeated for millennia and which still happens here every year on Cairn Sunday, the last Sunday of July.
The third of the three giants, Ceoldán (‘Music Poem’) the Stargazer, kneels within a circle of wooden posts representing the zodiac constellations at the OM Dark Sky Park and Observatory in Davagh Forest. Peering up at the sky through a disc resembling prehistoric stone circles, he nods to a time when the population in this region studded with ancient sites understood the year through the prism of celestial events.
