Artists Turn Giant Trees In The Forest Into Humorous Watchful Faces

Dear Human is the artistic partnership between Jasna Sokolovic and Noel O’Connell.  After meeting at a residency in Denmark the two began collaborating.  Their work is based on common beliefs the two share and each project incorporates their respective strengths.  Noel has material expertise and pays attention to detail where Jasna possesses great improvisational sensibility and an explorative nature.

Together their work draws inspiration from different environments.  They appreciate places and spaces that allow them to experiment with materials, as well as other people, such as designers, architects and artists.  Often their projects offer an alternative perception to overlooked everyday landscapes by revealing the hidden potential of places and objects.  Ultimately they hope to inspire consciousness and curiosity.

The Sentinels were one such project.  In part of the forest the duo regularly visits there used to be a grove of grand Douglas firs.  Over a century ago they were cut down.  At the time the technique to cut such giant trees was to chop wedges into them and embed horizontal planks to stand on, so the lumbar jacks could cut above the root line.  Now the remains resemble empty eye sockets that, as the duo says, “longed for an intervention.”  Inserting porcelain eyes into the slots the Sentinels were born and they silently keep watch over the forest.