This 5.5-metre-tall sculpture is set to go up in Richmond, B.C.

He's more than five metres tall, weighs 1,500 pounds and is made entirely of steel. His child is just as intimidating, standing more than two metres high.

Together, they make up a monumental public art installation that will be erected later this fall in front of the Minoru Centre for Active Living, a complex in downtown Richmond, B.C., which houses fitness facilities and seniors services.

The installation, entitled Together, is designed by Quesnel, B.C.-based artist David Jacob Harder, and is composed of hundreds of steel silhouettes of people engaging in physical activity, as well as pieces of Richmond's ecology. 

Each silhouette comes from a photograph taken of a person in the city.

"It was quite an ambitious undertaking, but I'm really, really quite happy with the way it turned out,"  Harder told Daybreak Kamloops.

The process

Harder's vision came to life last spring when he enlisted the help of his brother

They started with a massive piece of foam, which they shaped into the parent figure, followed by the child character.

The handiwork took place in his brother's Quesnel backyard, drawing curious stares from neighbours.

"[It] kind of became this tale for people because all of a sudden there's this 18-foot-tall foam person in his backyard that dwarfed his shop."

To achieve the silhouette effect, Harder turned to Vancouver photographer Mary Matheson.

Harder and Matheson spent several weeks taking photos of people in Richmond doing different physical activities, such as stretching and running.

Harder and his brother turned those photos into steel, which they cut and shaped into single pieces. They then wrapped those bits around the foam structures. 

Feeling some 'trepidation'

Jon Franklin, who runs a company in Kamloops that produces weather-resistant finishes, wasn't sure what to expect when he recently got a call from Harder. 

Franklin's company typically works on more industrial items such as car parts.

These days he's been busy coating the art installation in his shop.

"This is interesting for us," Franklin said. "This is a lot more fun." 

It's a good litmus test for Harder, who acknowledges that public art often yields many critics.

"There will always be that trepidation that you have of worrying about what people are going to say," he said. 

"But honestly, if you spend your time worrying about it, you won't be able to actually focus on what you're doing."

Harder is aiming to set up the installation in mid-November.

Read more from CBC British Columbia

With files from Shelley Joyce and Daybreak Kamloops