Yggdrasill

Sculptural installation

1998

Yggdrasill is a permanent outdoor site-specific sculptural installation on the remote island of Hrísey, Iceland.  In Norse mythology, Yggdrasill is the “life tree” or central axis of the universe which connects all of the nine worlds.  The various elements of the sculpture correspond to these worlds as described by Snorri Sturluson in the Prose Edda.  Although the scultpural installation is “permanent”, it was constructed on a tilted axis and was expected to decay, collapse, and eventually become overgrown with time.  As of 2010, the sculpture is still standing but has continued to corrode and the tree has since died and a new one has begun to grown.

This project was created while I was in Iceland as part of a Fulbright grant that I recieved in 1997. The project was completed in 1998, and consists of steel, stone, concrete, gold leaf, birch tree, earth, and is approximately 8’ high x 12’ diameter.