What is it?

A structure…. sculptural and architectural

Interactive, walk through it, sit in it, watch it move.

The interplay of light and shadow… both at night and during the day.

Some words…

“I advise you to say your dream is possible and then overcome all inconveniences, ignore all the hassles and take a running leap through the hoop, even if it is in flames.”

– Les Brown

You have noticed that everything an Indian does in a circle,

and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles,

and everything and everything tries to be round.

In the old days all our power came to us from the sacred hoop

of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people

flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop,

and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace

and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain and the north

with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance. This

knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion.

Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle.

The sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball

and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls.

Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.

The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon

does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great

circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were.

The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is

in everything where power moves. Our teepees were round like the

nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop,

a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children.

-- Black Elk, Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux 1863-1950

Relevance to South Africa

Well… let’s face it… a lot about our nation is fractured. So simply…. It’s about trying to achieve a whole… through teamwork… without financial or personal gain being the objective…. There should be a personal gain just by being involved… the journey is the destination…. small steps can make a big difference…. the building of the piece is a circle in itself...And it should be fun in the process.

“A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time ad space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of  nature in its beauty.”

-- Albert Einstein

Construction Materials

18mm plywood, 6mm plywood, 3mm plywood.

Mild steel brackets to connect hoops.

Fastenings

P.v.a paint.