On May 13, a pair of god-like hands emerged from the canals of Venice, Italy.
Image from Lorenzo Quinn.
The building that the arms — which are an art installation titled "Support" — appear to be propping up is the historic Ca' Sagredo Hotel. The sculpture is on display as part of the 2017 La Biennale di Venezia, an annual art exhibition.
The sculpture is pretty magnificent and setting it up was a pretty big undertaking. Here's some of the incredible photos showing just what it took to get bring "Support" to life. (By the way, some of the Instagram pictures are actually videos. Be sure to hit play.)
"Support" was created by renowned artist Lorenzo Quinn.
Image from Lorenzo Quinn,
The hands were built off-site by Quinn and his team.
A post shared by Lorenzo Quinn (@lorenzoquinnartist) on
Just how big are they? One fingertip is the size of Quinn's head.
A post shared by Lorenzo Quinn (@lorenzoquinnartist) on
To get to their final display location, the hands were loaded on boats.
Image from Lorenzo Quinn,
What did you expect? This is Venice after all.
Navigating the narrow canals with the hands on board was no easy feat.
A post shared by Lorenzo Quinn (@lorenzoquinnartist) on
But they made it to Ca' Sagredo in one piece.
Image from Lorenzo Quinn,
Once there, cranes carefully maneuvered them into their final place against the hotel walls.
•SUPPORT• is here! The installation at the @ca_sagredo_venice #LorenzoQuinnVenice
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One down... one to go #venicebiennale2017 #halcyongallery #lorenzoquinn
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The hands symbolize humanity's power to reshape the world for good or ill.
On Instagram, Quinn wrote that he hopes "Support" will inspire people "to support this wonder of city that is threatened by climate change. I hope my art brings a new focus of attention to a global calamity that we are faced with. "
"The hand holds so much power — the power to love, to hate, to create, to destroy," said Quinn in a press release.
Venice is an amazing city, but it'll need people's support to survive into the future.
Image from Lorenzo Quinn,
"Venice is a floating art city that has inspired cultures for centuries," said Quinn. "But to continue to do so it needs the support of our generation and future ones, because it is threatened by climate change and time decay."
It's true. Climate change could end up sinking the historic city in less than a century — and Venice isn't the only city in this situation. In response, the city is currently working on a massive flood barrier.
Our history, and our future, truly is in our hands.
We just need to decide what we want to do with them.
By the way, if you want a hands-on project of your own, you can always plant a tree, pen a letter to Congress, or volunteer with your local museum or historical society. Just a thought!



A Generation Jones teenager poses in her room.Image via Wikmedia Commons
An office kitchen.via
An angry man eating spaghetti.via 
Gif of baby being baptized
Woman gives toddler a bath Canva


An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
- YouTube youtube.com
Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.