Why So Many Circles?

Viewers often ask me why there are so many circles in the Seeds of Change series. Are they planets? The sun? Round seeds? Well, yes. All of these things. But also something more

My thoughts about the universality of life and matter led to my use of the circle as a symbol for feelings of connectedness. For many centuries, the circle and sphere have been linked to transcendence, vastness, and connectedness. Generation after generation, thinkers have used circles and spheres as metaphors for concepts of infinity, immeasurable space, timelessness, connectedness, oneness with God or with nature.

In his 1841 essay, “Circles.” Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end” and “Our life is an apprenticeship to truth, that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; that there is always another dawn risen on mid-noon, and under every deep a lower deep opens.”

The use of circles to represent the sense of “oneness” is not just a Eurocentric device. It can be seen in the Buddhist philosophy expressed by contemporary Japanese artist Mariko Mori. About her 2015 exhibition, Rebirth, at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Mori stated, “I really hope that the exhibition will remind people that all our remote ancestors were deeply connected to nature” A review of the exhibition states, “A very simple but serious idea, the circle of life and its connection to the natural world, are behind renowned Japanese artist Moriko Mori’s first Australian solo exhibition: Rebirth.” In the exhibition, Mori used a series of circles within circles to represent transcendence to oneness.

Mori uplifts the concept of oneness, of losing boundaries between ourselves and others and between microscopic particles and the greater universe. Such feelings of transcendence derived from nature are emotions common to all humanity, and these basic human needs and experiences connect us, rather than divide us. Perceiving ourselves as connected to each other and all living organisms and recognizing that our very existence is dependent on this connectedness, is a prerequisite of social and environmental justice.

I know that viewers will derive their own personal understanding of my works. It is my hope, however, that Seeds of Change can be one small part of a wave of new voices that gradually shift the way we perceive each other and our environment.

Ecoscape: Rhythms. Acrylic on Canvas. 12x12 inches