“Eyes as Big as Plates” by Riitta Ikonen and Karoline Hjorth

Eyes as Big as Plates # Brit (Norway 2018)
© Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen

For the past nine years, Finnish-Norwegian photographer duo Riitta Ikonen and Karoline Hjorth have been capturing seniors in mythological poses that reflect on their relationship to nature. The ongoing project, “Eyes as Big as Plates,” offers a stunning array of images, each depicting a solitary figure immersed in a unique natural setting. Their subjects hail from various countries – including Norway, France, the United States, Iceland, South Korea, and Sweden – and include retired fishermen, zoologists, artists, opera singers and plumbers.

Eyes as Big as Plates # Phetsavath (France 2013)
© Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen

Like the photographs, the project’s name has its roots in mythology – referring to the troll with eyes as big as plates in “The Three Billy Goats Gruff,” and Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Tinderbox,” in which a dog has eyes as big as saucers. The phrase references the photographers’ curiosity in their approach to each photoshoot. “We enter with open eyes,” Ikonen told CNN Style.

Eyes as Big as Plates # Astrid II (Norway 2011)
© Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen

Ikonen and Hjorth employ a collaborative process that allows them to mine their subjects’ unique backgrounds and life experiences. Often, they will choose a location that holds particular significance for their model. “They dictate what happens in the shoot,” Ikonen said. “It’s kind of like an adventure club.”

Eyes as Big as Plates # Mr Ohi (South Korea 2017)
© Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen

The result is a series of quiet, moving portraits that overturn stereotypical perceptions of the elderly and explore the complex relationship between humans and the natural world. A photograph of Niels, taken in the Faroe Islands in 2015, finds him barely visible among the barnacled rocks, while a 2011 portrait of Agnes from Norway fills the frame, a pile of sticks crowning her head and floating off to one side as though captured by the wind. Marie-Ange, an opera singer, is pictured climbing a sand dune while wearing a turtle shell of weeping willow branches.

Eyes as Big as Plates # Marie I (US 2013)
© Karoline Hjorth & Riitta Ikonen

In their artist statement, Ikonen and Hjorth say that part of the project’s purpose is to “encourage the rediscovery of a demographic group too often labeled as marginalized or even as a stereotypical cliché.” But, as Ikonen acknowledged to CNN, the images also suggest an embrace of the cyclical nature of life — a return to the earth.

Photographers Riitta Ikonen from Finland and Karoline Hjorth from Norway

“Eyes as Big as Plates” has been touring internationally, and is currently at the Norwegian National Museum. You can see more images, view the latest exhibition details, and order prints or an art book on the project’s website.