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Umi is a 21-foot sculpture by artist Daniel Popper in Hogan Park at Highlands Creek, the public art park in The Aurora Highlands, Aurora, Colorado. It shows a woman and a tree merging and was installed in August 2023.
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Umi (Popper, Aurora Highlands)
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Site-level location · 39.6853° N, 104.6014° W
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The story
Umi is a 21-foot sculpture by artist Daniel Popper, showing a woman and a tree joined as one figure. Visit Aurora says it was installed on 19 August and was Popper's first installation in Colorado, and that the name means "ocean" in Japanese while the concept draws on Gaia, the primordial mother goddess. The Denver Gazette gave the year as 2023 and, in November 2025, described the figure as a woman holding her womb.
It looks carved from wood but is made from fiberglass-reinforced concrete, according to the Gazette, which said that in the evenings projection mapping makes the figure appear to blink and move. Visit Aurora says the work includes a designated space within it for the public to explore.
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WHAT TO EXPECT
A 21-foot figure of a woman and a tree in a public art park, with a space inside it to explore. In 2025 the Denver Gazette reported evening projections on the figure and free public access to the park's art.
ACCESS
Hogan Park at Highlands Creek, the public art park in The Aurora Highlands, Aurora, Colorado. In 2025 the Denver Gazette described the art as free for the public to access; the park has a two-mile trail.
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