My metaphor for sustainability deals with time, history, and the finite yet inconstant nature of our world. In modern discourse, the sustainability conversations deals with how humans can sustain our existence as our traditional resources dwindle. What can we do with what we have left? What is left? Where can we go from here? The word sustainability is the quality of a thing which makes it capable of being sustained. This transitive verb “sustain” comes from the Latin sustinēre, meaning “to hold up.” Atlas, the Titan of navigation and seafarers, held up the celestial spheres for eternity as punishment for rebelling with his brethren against the Olympian gods’ world order. In my piece, Atlas’s Celestial spheres are the top half of a broken hourglass. Sand still drains from the top hemisphere, but the bottom one is shattered so when the sand runs out the world can’t turn itself over and get more time.
Original sketch front view
Original sketch side view
Color comp
