Confluence Project & TEDx Talk

What is Confluence Project?

At seven points along the Columbia River Basin, an unprecedented endeavor continues to unfold. Here, where rivers meet and indigenous people once gathered, the Confluence Project explores the intersection of environment, cultures and a regional history that reaches back many hundreds of years.

Confluence Project is a collaborative effort of Pacific Northwest tribes, renowned artist Maya Lin, civic groups from Washington and Oregon and other artists, architects and landscape designers. The project stretches more than 300 miles from where the Columbia River flows into the Pacific Ocean, to Clarkston, WA, with sites in both Oregon and Washington. Each of its seven sites features an art installation by Ms. Lin that interprets the area’s ecology and history, encouraging the visitor to reflect on how the surroundings have changed over time. Each references a passage from the Lewis and Clark journals.

With distinctive artworks and restored native habitat, the four currently completed sites create new points of contact – confluence – between nature and art; past, present and future; and the enduring communities of the Pacific Northwest-its Native People and more recent visitors and residents.

Confluence Project Artist, Lillian Pitt and her mentee, Toma Villa: TEDx Talk
A recent TEDx ConcordiaUPortland event included accomplished Pacific Northwest Native American artists, Lillian Pitt and Toma Villa. In this video, enjoy Lillian and Toma’s expressions of gratitude for what their ancestors have provided them, their passion for passing the gifts of their ancestors on to the next seven generations, and the ability of art to help them honor and share these gifts.

Watch the video HERE.

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