Dive Into Maya Lin’s Delicate Desktop Sculpture

Here’s what you need to know about Maya Lin’s delicate desktop sculpture Seven Square Inches of Water:

1. Born in Ohio in 1959, Maya Lin has gone down in American history as the architect behind the famed Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., an honor she won in a national competition while still a 21-year-old undergrad.

2. Since then, Lin has gone on to design more memorials and public sculptures around the country, including the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. She’s also taken a keen interest in environmental issues, with much of her recent work reflecting on the contemporary degradation of our natural world.

3. Sales of Seven Square Inches of Water—a limited-edition cast glass work echoing her 2009 earthwork Wavefield—benefit Lin’s “multimedia memorial” and environmental foundation What Is Missing?, which seeks to inform the public about the threats facing the world’s biodiversity and vulnerable ecosystems.

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