Celilo Park artwork revealed

May 1, 2007

Maya Lin has completed a model of the artwork for Celilo Park, near The Dalles, Oregon. The work will take the shape of a simple wooden arc inspired by the iconic fishing platforms where Indians, using lines, spears and long-poled dip nets, risked their lives to catch salmon in the turbulent water of the falls. Celilo Falls was an important gathering place for Northwest Native Americans for 10,000 years before its inundation in 1957 by The Dalles Dam.

The model shows a gentle ramp that, when completed, will span 300 feet and take the viewer from land to a point cantilevered over the water. Text set in the ramp will chronicle the history of the falls, from a geologic description of its formation, to accounts of its existence in both mythic and oral histories of the tribes who inhabited the area, to Lewis and Clark’s accounts, to the poignant testimonies of the tribes who protested the dam. The final text, at water’s edge, will describe the lost sound of the falls.

Construction of the site is targeted to begin in 2010.