Confluence Project Listening Circle by Maya Lin

The Confluence Project is interpretive artwork by world renowned artist Maya Lin, created to reflect the people and environment of the Columbia River Basin. The local installation at Chief Timothy Park was completed in 2015. Located on an island at the confluence of the Clearwater and Snake rivers in Clarkston, Washington, it is the only Confluence Project site that still resembles what Lewis and Clark saw over 200 years ago.

Here, Maya Lin fully restored a section of the island to native grasses and wildflowers and installed a large, stone-rimmed earthwork: a “listening circle” sculpted out of a natural amphitheater located at the top of the island. The shape is inspired by a Nez Perce blessing  ceremony performed here in spring 2005, at which the women were seated facing north, the men facing south, and the elders facing east, with no one allowed to pass behind them. 

Photo via Visit Lewis & Clark Valley