Lynne Scott Constantine, 2020
mixed media assemblage on birch wood blocks, 16″ x 20″ x 3″

To live on and among barrier islands is to know the constant push-and-pull between land paths and the water’s intention. Our bridges are our triumphant assertion of will over water, but our bridges are also the fault lines of our connections. This composite artwork was created out of (mostly) found images. Overlaid on my recoloring of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency map that predicts the impact of sea level rise on the Outer Banks are five images of the fragility of bridging: the bridges are (clockwise) the still functional Camden Norfolk Southern swing bridge near Elizabeth City; the abandoned 30s-era wooden New Inlet Bridge; the 30s-era Core Creek Swing Bridge, now lost; the Ben Sawyer Bridge in South Carolina, battered by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 but repaired and still functional; and an unnamed coastal bridge in the process of being removed.