About
Sweetness of Circles
In this Sweetness of Circles multi year project, Tracie and Teresa wonder about the nature of circular (cyclical) philosophies and teachings. They invite an exploration of relationships within the living web of life to which we all belong. Moving outside the colonial lens of isolation and objectivity, we discover that balance is not imposed; rather, it is cultivated together.
From a place of listening, the conversation expands. We attune our ears to the intersections of circles and give expression through visual art, sound, poetry, tactile experience, and documentation.
Throughout 2025/2026 in the Lower Fraser Valley and parts of the GVRD regions, a series of site-specific, community-driven experiences unfolded. Each gathering shaped a large scroll woven with collective voices and visions. Now, these scrolls have come together as a living archive and exhibition.
The heart of this collective work is to shine a light on what it might mean to live within a greater community where all voices are honoured, and every being—human and more—holds hylozoic* rights of personhood. This is the Sweetness of Circles: a remembering of balance, belonging, and reverence within this web of life.
“We explore how the landscape becomes not only context but co-constituent– an active participant in the choreography of attention. The pedagogical
intention is not to arrive at closure or solution, but to inhabit a space of layered inquiry. What becomes possible when we sense with rather than
about? When movement is framed not as expression but as dialogue? When artistic processes become conduits for ecological solidarity?”
—Gemma Collard Stokes
The Flower of Life
When envisioning the Sweetness of Circles installation, a seed was planted. Bringing the many intersecting circles of our work together for this installation, a vision inspired by the sacred geometry’s flower of life emerged. A form was created based on its
structure, to support eight of the scrolls, creating a central “stone circle”.
The flower of life blooms as a rhythmic tapestry of overlapping circles, starting with the seed of life and scaling outward in harmony with the golden ratio, it creates the flower of life.
In the physical sciences, this mathematical proportion is observed as a fundamental principle of structural optimization. Rather than a rigid, enforced law, it operates as a cellular blueprint for maximum dynamic efficiency—allowing plants, animals, and microscopic structures to pack tightly, grow without friction, and channel vital energy along the path of absolute least resistance.
While our supporting structure is not a complete flower of life, the centre holds the beginning flower, referred to as the seed of life. The scroll that greets you to the left of the portal into this “stone circle” was created during the winter solstice of 2025, with the PLOT Sharing Garden community. It is titled ‘Seeds Resting: Dreaming in the Dark’. We invite visitors to dream with us, as together we dream this greater flower of life into being.
The Cocoon
Central in the “stone circle” made up of some of the community driven large scrolls. is a cocoon, hanging pendant below the “seed of life”. The experiences and knowing contained within the stones hold the seeds dreaming within. Though the stones do not yet know the dreams of these seeds, they stand in welcome, ready to recognize and encourage the gift that each seed holds as it breaks open its shell.
Like the butterflies that light on the cocoon, they are mountains walking, and they sing.
“We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon” –Joni Mitchell
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the many friends who have helped make this collective installation happen, working together, hand in hand. Please know how your particular light—the unique spark of each and every one of you—has truly made this the Sweetness of Circles.
We raise our hands to the wisdom keepers, the storytellers, and to all the families of the original keepers of the lands upon which this installation sits. We hold deep gratitude to be here.
We acknowledge with full hearts, this installation is resting on the unceded territory of the Stó:lō People, the People of the River, and all their human and other than human relatives.