Lynne Scott Constantine, 2022
digital photo composite, 20″ x 24″

If I had to select a mascot for humanity as we try to find our way forward, it would be the lichen. An ancient collaboration between two simple lifeforms, lichens survive through symbiosis. The differences of the constituent creatures work together, permitting the symbiotic whole to thrive anywhere without needing resources from any other creature. Lichen often are the first creatures to return to the site of a devastating natural disaster. – We can learn much from their ways.

In this digital composite, the overlay images of lichen are macro photographs I took in spring 2020 on my crepe myrtle trees in Point Harbor. The background image “Mixing Waters and Moving Ships off the North Carolina Coast” is a satellite capture of the bustling waterways of the Outer Banks, taken by NASA’s Terra satellite on October 11, 2000. It represents the hopeful vision of a healthy, vigorous Atlantic coast protected from the ravages that climate change brings; a magical zone in which land and sea continue to support vibrant human, animal and plant life.