Rilke spent many trips walking through Venice’s maze of narrow Calli. In his Duino Elegies he said 'Beauty is the beginning of terror'. This thought is ever present in this series. The impossible beauty of the Venetian canals is juxtaposed with the ever present threat of rising sea levels. According to an IPCC study published in 2021, in the worst case scenario, the sea level could rise between 63cm-101cm by 2100. Flooding has become increasingly frequent posing an existential threat to the city and its inhabitants. This sense of fragility and being under threat is contrasted by the city’s age which gives it a sense of permanence. It would be hard to distinguish today’s Venice with old sketches and paintings from hundreds of years ago. In 1623, Fra Paolo Sarpi was on his deathbed. With his final words, he said of Venice, 'Esto perpetua!' - May she live forever!