Maya Lin: The Confluence Project
How One Woman Seamlessly Blends Art, Structure, and Environmentalism
Dec 16, 2008
Lin is an artist in every facet of the word. Her architecture is world renowned, her fine art graces many a prestigious gallery, and her graceful interiors fit seamlessly into private homes. Her latest project takes bits from all her work to pay homage to a forgotten culture and a floundering environment.
Brief Biography
Born October 5, 1959 in Athens, Ohio, Lin attended Yale School of Architecture. While still an undergraduate, she entered into a national design competition for the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington, D.C. Her winning design for a V-Shaped stone wall carved with the names of fallen soldiers not only affected a generation of mourning veterans and families, but also propelled the 21-year-old to an unimaginable level of renown.
Such an expeditious flight to fame might have turned Lin into a flippant artist who created corporate sculptures and monuments. While she has continued to create such works, her quiet and patient nature, coupled with a passion for environmental and cultural activism, make her a venerable artist in her own right.
Lin has gone on to create sculptures and architectural spaces for corporations such as American Express and Aveda Cosmetics. They make nods to nature with rolling waves, lolling hills, and imitations of lunar phases. Her installations follow a similar route. For example, 2x4 Landscape, a piece in her Systematic Landscapes exhibit, consists of over 50,000 wooden 2x4 segments that make up a ten-foot tall slope. Lin continues to design both public and private structures from her studio in New York City.
The Confluence Project
A confluence is commonly known as a convergence of two bodies of water, usually two river tributaries. If one were to look at Lin’s most recent project from this perspective, the merging rivers would be replaced by fine art, architecture, a forgotten Native American history, and a crumbling environment. Lin, along with other architects and officials, is creating seven installations at points along the Columbia River Basin. Each site is a naturally occurring confluence and an historic meeting place between Native Americans and Lewis and Clark during their expedition.
The project was set in motion in 2000 when Lin began working with several Native American tribes from the Pacific Northwest and municipal groups from Washington and Oregon. The goal, according to the Confluence Project website, was to “reflect a consciousness of the tremendous changes set in motion by the Corps of Discovery on the Northwest's native people and environment.” The resulting installations, two of which are complete, reflect this mantra. The remaining sites – Ridgefield, Sandy River Delta, Celilo Park, Chief Timothy Park, and Sacagawea State Park – are in various states of planning and construction.
Completed Sites
Cape Disappointment State Park- Ilwaco, Washington
Fur trader John Meares named this site in a fit of vexation after failing to find Heceta’s River. Today, this site houses several attractions that pay homage to Lewis and Clark’s expedition party and the Chinook tribe. Among the majestic dunes stands a fish-cleaning table made from native basalt. The table combines past and present, fantasy and functionality, as fish blood and scales mingle with a Chinook creation story carved into its surface. The site also contains a winding boardwalk and circle of driftwood columns, creating a primitive and sacred environment reminiscent of a modern Stonehenge.
Sandy River Delta - Troutdale, Oregon
A walk through the forest at this site, whose native plant life is being restored, reveals Lin’s “bird blind.” The circular structure allows visitors to view birds and other wildlife up close through a natural camouflage. It is composed of locust wood, which is an invasive species to the forest. Lin takes a harmful material and reincarnates it as a means of seeing the land’s beauty as an unobtrusive spectator.
Pioneering Art
Maya Lin’s work for the Confluence Project is an exercise in subtle art. Her pieces emerge quietly from their surroundings, often urging viewers to admire the natural world around them instead of the pieces themselves. If one word could encompass Lin’s current occupation in this project, it would be explorer. She is taking on a new exploration of the American Northwest, unearthing lost tribes, ecosystems, and histories.
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