River Sophia is a headpiece whose construction and design represents both a visual rendering of the water, or hydrologic, cycle on our planet, and a piece of meditation art focused on the metaphysical lessons we can learn from Earth’s hydrosphere. As this process encompasses water’s continuous movement through bodies of water, the ground and vegetation, into the atmosphere, and back down again – it represents change, repetition, and the interconnectedness of the cycle’s main phases: evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation, and runoff.

In the primary focus of the design, the swirling blue River Sophia is surrounded by the brown of the land and the green of the grass. This spiral represents the foundation of the headpiece’s hydrologic cycle: As rivers, the ground, and vegetation are all water storage centers, they are places in the process where evaporation and transpiration takes place.

As the liquid changes to gas during evaporation, it rises up through the atmosphere – represented by the rows of blue net stitches. The gas starts to change back to liquid through condensation, and a row of dark blue rain clouds appear. The rain begins to fall and the precipitation moves back down through the blue netting forming runoff that flows back into the soil and river. The process begins again.

River Sophia is also inspired by the ancient tradition of meditation art, and the journey that deep questioning can instigate. Therefore, she was created as a guide for exploring the cycles I repeat in my life and where they take me: Do I cling onto one part of the cycle due to fear of the unknown that change can bring? What would happen if I let go and let the river take me? How can life’s interconnectedness help support me? What journey does the cycle of water lead you to?

Note: Entries have been not been edited or proofread to protect the integrity of the maker's original meaning.