Wheel of Life: Three Generations

In the center of Wheel of Life, Bhakti Ziek uses her own family tree to personalize the cycle of life she unfolds at its base.  That is her self-portrait with a waist loom at the left; her father is the cellist to the right; and her engineer grandfather is symbolized by the bridge.  After we visually climb the ladder, Ziek steps us through a brief history of twentieth-century transportation, from footprints to rockets.  

For Ziek, the artistry of weaving connects her to both the past and the future.  The basic components of her craft have not changed since antiquity.  But she has added her own innovative processes to the traditional warp-and-weft construction, handweaving some sections as well as handpainting the warp to create spectacular color effects.  For the black-and-white framing panels, she used contemporary computer technology.