DOES WHY MATTER?, 2024, three-channel montage / audio installation (color; sound; 9:57 loop)

Confronting the reality of climate change, this montage links the cold facts of environmental degradation – images, headlines, and the faces of those displaced – with the positive progress and the beauty we stand to lose. A reminder of what hangs in the balance: not just landscapes, but lives. Amidst the data and despair, a counterpoint emerges – an audio meditation, a resonant call to compassion. It voices the truth.

This is not them, it is all of us. It could be you.
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AUDIO: Produced by Kerri Sheehan. Original music by THAT CLOUD: JS Adams / Christopher Mathews-Larsen / Chris Videll. Text by Sondra N. Arkin and Ellyn Weiss. Performed by Joseph Dress, Christopher Hamilton, Kerri Sheehan, Ruth Travarrow, and Ellyn Weiss.

MONTAGE: Produced by Sondra N Arkin. Photos by Sondra N. Arkin, Barb Kinney, Library of Congress, NASA, NOAA, and FEMA. Additional stock images from unsplash and Getty images by Imthaz Ahamed, Engin Akyurt, Abdulaziz Alfaleh, Amir Arabshahi, Misbahul Aulia, Christian Bass, Max Bohme, Phil Botha, Kevin Buckert, Mark Chaves, Larry Costales, Galen Crout, Chandler Cruttenden, Ethan Currier, Nicholas Doherty, Erik Eastman, Travis Essinger, Solen Feyissa, Ricardo Gomez, Tetiana Grypachevska, Dimitri Jablokov, Boba Jovanovic, Hans Jurgen, James Kovin, Chris Leboutillier, Mitchel Lensink, Levi Meir, Alexander Mils, Brandon Morgan, Katie Moum, Chris Munch, Sadiq Nafee, Drazen Nesic, Matteo Paganelli, Matt Palmer, Jonathan Ramalho, Julie Ricard, Scott Rodgerson, Markus Spiske, Meritt Thomas, Craig Whitehead, and Barbara Zandoval. Special thanks to Mary Beth Ramsey.