11. Samsara (2001)

This piece is Grieve’s experiment in lessening the pain and suffering of the world. In 2000, his oldest sister’s husband took his own life.  It startled him how the pain and suffering of the event spread out through his network of social relations like ripples when you toss a pebble into a quiet pond.  Grieve strove to couner this social effect using the concept of karma and saṃsāra. Karma literally means action, work, or deed, and refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect wherein intent and actions of an individual influence the future of that individual. Saṃsāra means “lived social world,” and is the concept of rebirth and cyclicality of all life, matter, and is fundamental to most Indian religions. From each of our individual karmic acts, the shared world of samsara is constructed. Grieve wagered that if he could inject into saṃsāra numerous small acts of kindness and happiness through the circulation of happy face balls he could counter pain and suffering.