Thomas Dambo, a world-renowned Danish artist and environmental activist, has created over 150 towering troll sculptures out of recycled wood and materials in 17 different countries. Now, for the first time, his trolls will come to Iowa.
The self-described "trash artist" traveled to Clinton this month to explore the town's riverfront, visit its recycling facilities and learn about its history, which he incorporates into the design and accompanying stories he writes about each sculpture he creates. He plans to install multiple trolls along the Mississippi River on Clinton's Sawmill Museum campus in 2026.
Dambo has hidden his mischievous trolls, inspired by Danish folklore, in 23 states across the U.S., attracting tourists and increasing foot traffic to those areas. His Iowa trolls will mark his first installation along the Mississippi.
His installations are meant to involve the community. While he builds the trolls' heads in his studio in Denmark before transporting them to the installation site, the community is invited to come out and help prepare the wood scraps he rescues from their landfills. He estimates he's worked with over 20,000 people over the years as he's assembled the sculptures.
"Recycling has enabled me to realize all my dreams, and I think that there's a lot of dreams that lay in the trash cans around in the world," he said on IPR's Talk of Iowa. "I think it's such a great thing for me to spend my life on — to make sure that the content of our trash can doesn't become a problem that suffocates our world."
The Sawmill Museum sees the project as a transformative moment for Clinton that will recognize its industrial past while celebrating its creative future. The town was once known as the “Lumber Capital of the World." The story Dambo creates about the trolls could center around returning "stolen" trees back to their homes in the forest.
"To be here in the area, in Iowa, with such a rich history of sawmilling and of forestry, I think it's a greater talking point to talk about how we used to do forestry," he said. "How would we do it in the future, and how do we do it now?
Dambo's installation is expected to be completed by early summer 2026.
To hear this conversation and learn more about Thomas Dambo, listen to Talk of Iowa, hosted by Charity Nebbe. Samantha McIntosh produced this episode.
