SURVIVAL OF SERENA Yesterday I was out walking in Chicago when I came across this beautiful sculpture by American artist Carole A. Feuerman . As a swimmer it resonated with me straight away. Survival of Serena is part of Carole’s “Monuments of Stillness” exhibition along the Magnificent Mile. At first glance, she looks peaceful. Resting. Floating. Serene. However the story runs much deeper. Carole traces the inspiration for Survival of Serena to seeing Cuban immigrants arriving in Key West by water in the early 1980s. The swimmer became a symbol of survival, migration, resilience and the possibility of beginning again. What struck me was the contrast: this beautiful moment of stillness sitting in the middle of a busy Chicago street. Stillness isn’t the absence of struggle; sometimes it is what comes after it. We navigate the rough water. We adapt. We survive. And eventually, we find somewhere to rest. Feuerman’s swimmers have been described as capturing a moment of grace i...