Hallow — Daniel Popper, Lisle

💡 5 things to know

1. The tallest of fiveAt 26 feet, Hallow was the tallest of the five sculptures that opened Human+Nature on 28 May 2021. The Arboretum placed it on the East Side, along Meadow Lake near the Visitor Center, to welcome guests as they arrived; Colossal put it “at the arboretum’s entrance”. The Morton Arboretum · Daily Herald · Colossal Checked
2. A wound, and acceptancePopper’s own exhibition text ties the work to personal grief, and reads the open chest as a wound but also as calm surrender and acceptance rather than despair. The Daily Herald called the open chest “a symbolic opening of the human heart” and Popper’s “calling card”. Daniel Popper · Daily Herald Checked
3. Meant for a year, stayed almost twoThe Arboretum first said the sculptures would stay for at least one year. In December 2022 it announced that Human+Nature would close at the end of February 2023, with some of Popper’s eight sculptures on view into March. The Morton Arboretum · The Morton Arboretum, Dec 2022 Checked
4. A second Hallow in MontgomeryIn July 2024 Popper wrote that Hallow and Heartwood had “found their forever homes” at the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, which the Equal Justice Initiative owns on the Alabama River in Montgomery. His photos from the park show a figure with a high braided bun instead of the Lisle figure’s low-gathered hair, a darker bronze-brown finish instead of the pale wood-grain look, and a chest opened down into an arch that visitors walk through; My Modern Met says it stands in the middle of a path. Popper’s project page dates the Montgomery works “Montgomery, Alabama, USA, 2024”, and My Modern Met calls them his “two other 2024 sculptures”. No source says whether any part of the Lisle figure was reused. Daniel Popper · Daniel Popper (project page) · My Modern Met · Legacy Sites · The Christian Science Monitor Conflicting
5. In the Arboretum’s archiveThe Arboretum’s ACORN archive holds a photo by Dulcey Lima, created 27 May 2021, the day before the opening, titled “‘Hallow’ Welcomes Visitors to Human+Nature”; it places the sculpture on the East Side of the Visitor’s Center near the parking lot. Arboretum archive Checked

📷 At the Arboretum

📍 Check-in guide

🗓️ Sightings

1. 202120 May

   Arboretum announces Hallow

2. 202127 May

   Arboretum photo, Lisle

3. 202128 May

   Opening · Daily Herald

4. 202215 Dec

   Closing announced

5. 202326 May

   Human+Nature concluded · Arboretum

6. 202431 Jul

   Montgomery Hallow · Artist’s post

7. 202416 Aug

   Montgomery Hallow · CSMonitor

8. 202522 Jan

   Montgomery Hallow · My Modern Met

9. 202518 Sep

   Montgomery Hallow · Legacy Sites

Every stamp links to its source. The green stamp is the Arboretum’s archive photo by Dulcey Lima of the Lisle figure (27 May 2021). The red stamp is the Arboretum’s note on its 2021 press release that Human+Nature “has concluded” and that the next exhibition, Of the Earth, opened on 26 May 2023; the status stamp follows it, with the closing date from the Arboretum’s December 2022 announcement. Amber stamps are announcements and reports. The four amber stamps from 2024 and 2025 are about the second Hallow in Montgomery (Popper’s post, an article by a Christian Science Monitor writer published 16 August 2024 with no visit date, My Modern Met, and a Legacy Sites post), not the Lisle figure.

📰 On the record

✅ The facts

Work

Hallow: a giant female figure, head tilted and eyes closed, pulling her chest open with both hands. Daniel Popper · Daily Herald · Colossal Checked

Artist

Daniel Popper, sculptor based in Cape Town, South Africa. The Morton Arboretum · Daniel Popper Checked

Size

26 feet (about 7.9 m) tall. The Morton Arboretum · Daily Herald · Colossal Checked

Materials

Popper lists steel, glass-fibre reinforced concrete, fibreglass, wood and natural fibres for the Human+Nature series as a whole; no source lists the materials of the Lisle Hallow alone. Daniel Popper · The Morton Arboretum Unconfirmed The Christian Science Monitor describes the Montgomery version as “a glass fiber sculpture reinforced by concrete steel”. The Christian Science Monitor Reported

Made for

Human+Nature, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois; opened 28 May 2021. International Paper sponsored Hallow. The Morton Arboretum · Daily Herald Checked

First site

East Side of the Arboretum, along Meadow Lake near the Visitor Center; the Daily Herald puts it on the “southeast side of Meadow Lake”. The Morton Arboretum · Daily Herald · Arboretum archive Checked

Shown until

Human+Nature closed at the end of February 2023, with some sculptures on view into March. The Morton Arboretum Checked

Montgomery version

A 2024 Hallow by Popper stands in the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, Montgomery, Alabama. Its hairstyle, finish and walk-through chest differ from the Lisle figure in Popper’s and the park’s photos, and Popper’s project page and My Modern Met date it 2024; no source says whether it reuses the Lisle figure. Daniel Popper · Daniel Popper (project page) · My Modern Met · Legacy Sites Conflicting

Montgomery park

AP reported in March 2024 that the park “opens March 27”; Popper’s July 2024 post speaks of its “official opening” on Juneteenth. Both may be right (a public opening and a later ceremony), but we could not confirm which date the Montgomery Hallow was first on view. AP · Daniel Popper Conflicting

Status

Gone from Lisle: Human+Nature closed at the end of February 2023, some sculptures on view into March. The Morton Arboretum Checked A Hallow has been in the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park since 2024; Legacy Sites posted a photo of it there on 18 September 2025. Legacy Sites Reported

Our photo

Photo: The Morton Arboretum (via its Instagram), as published on Street Art Utopia, 2024; photographer and capture date not named. Shown as already published on Street Art Utopia; we do not claim a licence for it. Street Art Utopia Unconfirmed

🔗 Related

• Art About the Weight We Carry: the Street Art Utopia post with this work, 17 October 2026
• 5 Photos of Sculpture “Hallow” By Daniel Popper: Street Art Utopia, 21 June 2024
• Umi — Daniel Popper, Aurora: the Artwork File on another Human+Nature sculpture, rebuilt in Colorado

All sources (13)

The artist

• Daniel Popper: “Human + Nature”, Exhibition page. Hallow’s meaning (grief, the open chest), exhibition 2021–2023, group materials, list of works.
• Daniel Popper: “Honoring the Past and Celebrating the Future: Juneteenth at the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park”, 31 July 2024. Hallow and Heartwood “found their forever homes” at the park; photos by Jon Pillemer.
• Daniel Popper: “EJI Freedom Monument Sculpture Park”, Project page. “Montgomery, Alabama, USA, 2024”; photo set of the Montgomery Hallow.

Records

• The Morton Arboretum: “Human+Nature” press release, 20 May 2021. Five sculptures, opening 28 May; Hallow 26 feet, East Side along Meadow Lake near the Visitor Center; sponsor International Paper; at least one year. Editor’s note: “Human+Nature has concluded. The large-scale sculpture exhibition, Of the Earth, opened May 26, 2023.”
• Morton Arboretum ACORN archive: “‘Hallow’ Welcomes Visitors to Human+Nature”, Photo by Dulcey Lima, created 27 May 2021; East Side of the Visitor’s Center near the parking lot.
• The Morton Arboretum: new exhibition announcement, 15 December 2022. Human+Nature to close at the end of February 2023, some sculptures on view into March.

News

• Daily Herald: “New giant Human+Nature sculptures at Morton Arboretum show spiritual connection to trees”, Katlyn Smith, 28 May 2021. Height, site by Meadow Lake, “calling card”.
• Colossal: “Five Towering Figures by Artist Daniel Popper Loom Over The Morton Arboretum”, 27 May 2021. Hallow, 26 feet, at the arboretum’s entrance.
• The Christian Science Monitor: “How the National Monument to Freedom offers dignity to formerly enslaved people”, Ken Makin, 16 August 2024. Seeing Hallow at the park; “a glass fiber sculpture reinforced by concrete steel”.
• My Modern Met: “Daniel Popper’s Evocative Public Sculpture Speaks to Human Relationships and Nature”, Jessica Stewart, 22 January 2025. Hallow and Heartwood, Popper’s “two other 2024 sculptures”, at the park; Popper quote.
• AP via KPRC Click2Houston: “Sculpture park aims to look honestly at slavery and honor those who endured it”, Kim Chandler, 18 March 2024. The park “opens March 27”.

Other

• Legacy Sites on X, 18 September 2025. Post text: “‘Hallow’ by Daniel Popper at Freedom Monument Sculpture Park.” Read from X’s listing of the post.
• Wikipedia: “Freedom Monument Sculpture Park”, Owner, size, address.

Artwork File · Last checked 17 October 2026 · Certainty labels follow How We Verify Art · All Artwork Files