What do you get when you cross an artist, seniors, and folklore? An amazing collection of photos, that’s what! Finnish artist Riitta Ikonen was working on an idea relating to Nordic Folktales. While pondering this idea, she realized that the people who would be closest to this tradition would be the elders around her. So starting a long journey, this artist turned elders into beautiful works of art.

Artist Turned Elders into Beautiful Works of Art

Ikonen started to do research and came across Karoline Hjorth, a photographer whose book of portraits, Mormormonologene, is a celebration of Norwegian grandmothers. Together, they collaborated on the project called “Eyes as Big as Plates” for seven years.

Photos spanning the world include both men and women becoming one with nature. Whether they are mythical gods or creatures of the earth, these models are stunning against the backdrop of nature. There are 60 photos total, and each photo has a small paragraph describing the model.

They find their models by interacting with people who have “moxie.” Ikonen says:

“We might be in Paris, and you might be at an opera soiree evening and there might be an old lady dancing, the last person on the dance floor, and you just think: Who is this fascinating person I have to meet? You approach them and ask them, ‘Who are you and what are you doing tomorrow?’”

For example, one model named Agnes (pictured above) is personifying the North Wind. She is chosen for this figure because she is the oldest Norwegian woman to have ever completed a parachute jump. Actually, she did this twice, at the age of 85 and then again, at 90. She is pictured standing on a stark black rock face at the edge of the sea; she wears an armature on her head made of twisted, tendril-like twigs, dramatically swept to one side.

Read more here.