EARTH MANDALA: (World Wheel), is an
artistic forum for global understanding consisting of twelve monumental
stone sculptures and ceremony performance events circling the
globe on the 35th latitunal parallel. It focuses on spiritual
ecological issues activating an awareness of the interrelatedness
of all life. Through active participation with local artists,
performers and community, Earth Mandala addresses the people's
deepest personal and social concerns, working creatively with
them to resolve cultural conflicts. Earth Mandala provides a transformative
experience for the community.
The first Earth Mandala took seven years beginning in Malibu,
California and continued on to the Seneca Reservation, New York--Alicante
on the Mediterranean Sea of Spain--the Umbrian Forest of Italy--the
island of Tinos in Greece--the desert of Egypt--the banks of the
Dead Sea in Israel and Palestine--a tiny village in West Bengal,
India--a cave in Shoto Terdrom, Tibet--a national park in Kunming,
Western China--on the banks of Lake Baikal, Siberia. In October
of 1993 the culmination of this journey was in Japan at the ancient
Shinto shrine of Tenkawa.
..
Finos (Island), Greece......................................West
Bengal Village, India
Vijali
The motivation for the Earth Mandala
came from an experience in the mid 70's when my perception of
ourselves and the world shifted, and the Unity of life stood revealed.
The next few years were a search for a way to live within this
web of life that connects all life. Specific ideas for the Earth
Mandala came to me in a dream; I saw myself carving sculptures
out of the living rock and involving people from many culture
in a process of ritual in a giant circle around the world. The
circle itself represents Unity in the sense that each spoke of
the wheel has a quality that is unique, distinct from every other
spoke of the wheel and yet it is from these differences that harmony
arises, from these differences that the whole is created.
As soon as I arrive in a country,
I ask each person I meet, three questions:
1. What
is our essence?
2.
What is our sickness, our imbalance
... personally, communally and globally?
3.
What can heal this sickness, what
can bring us into balance?
Vijali as Gaia 
Their response from these questions
form the art and ritual performance. Each earth sculpture serves
as the performance space and is left as a gift and permanent installation
to be used by the community, continuing to connect them to the
concept of Unity of the Earth Mandala.
The world became my studio. I was a pilgrim
who made offerings and gave voice and form to the spirit of the
earth and the people I met along the way. I kept expanding the
borders of what sculpture was, what art was, integrating it more
and more into life itself--the people around me; their problems
their hopes, their dreams of the future. I saw that at the root
of these problems is the misunderstanding of ourselves as separate,
isolated beings needing to exploit the earth and each other for
our gain. This dualistic way of thinking is the direct cause of
our ecological and social problems which is rapidly leading us
toward global disaster.
