Lynne Scott Constantine, 2022
digital photo composite, 16″ x 20″

The title of this piece has special significance. In 1966, at the start of the age of new media, experimental filmmaker Stan VanDerBeek expressed hope that new visually-based communications technologies could work against cultural misunderstanding and language barriers. “The world is hanging by a thread of verbs and nouns,” he wrote. Were he alive today, he would be gratified at how the Internet has brought billions of new voices to the world stage—and saddened at how the old petty flaws of humanity persist. The world still hangs by a thread.

The background image in this composite is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency map that predicts the impact of sea level rise on the Outer Banks; I adapted it by recoloring to emphasize the extreme danger facing our people, their livelihoods, and our beautiful landscape and waterways if we cannot find ways to talk to each other productively about the climate crisis we face. The dangling antique globe is a photograph I took of a bookend from a family member.