Maya Lin, Public Art, and the Confluence Project

by Matthew Reynolds

Overview

The first scholarly monograph devoted exclusively to this vital work of contemporary public art, this book examines Maya Lin’s Confluence Project through the lens of environmental humanities and Indigenous studies.

Matthew Reynolds provides a detailed analysis of each earthwork, along with a discussion of the proposed final project at Celilo Falls near The Dalles, Oregon. The book assesses the artist’s longtime engagement with the region of the Pacific Northwest and explores the Confluence Project within Lin’s larger oeuvre. Several consistent themes and experiences are common amongst all the sites. These include an emphasis on individual, multisensory encounters with the earthworks and their surrounding contexts; sound as an experiential dimension of landscape; indexical accounts of the multicultural, multispecies histories of each place; and an evocation of loss.

The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, contemporary art, environmental studies, environmental humanities, and Native American studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032288123
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/07/2024
Series:	Routledge Focus on Art History and Visual Studies
Pages:	124
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Matthew Reynolds is Associate Professor in the Department of Art History and Visual Culture Studies at Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington.

Table of Contents

1. Cape Disappointment State Park 2. The Land Bridge at Fort Vancouver 3. The Bird Blind at Sandy River Delta 4. The Story Circles of Sacajawea State Park 5. The Listening Circle at Chief Timothy Park 6. Reflections on Confluence’s Material and Immaterial Value