Venice

Magical, Ancient, and Ever More Fragile

The featured image shows a pair of hands that reach up to tenderly support the 15^th Century Venetian palace Ca’ Sagredo (now a hotel) on the Grand Canal in Venice. Nowhere is it more apparent that the human-built environment is in a very fragile state and we are reminded of our own mortality and that of the planet we inhabit. Titled Support the sculpture was created by the artist Lorenzo Quinn for the Venice Art Biennale in 2017. Modeled on the hands of Quinn’s 11 year- old son they were constructed of polyurethane foam covered by a resin and weighed 5,000 pounds. I captured the image while riding on a vaporetto (water taxi) in May of 2017. I returned to visit the work several times just to experience it and take in the reactions of my fellow passengers, all of whom seemed as awe-struck as I was.