Timeless Tobacco

Seth’s community partner spent the majority of his adult life rising through the ranks at the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company, eventually becoming a supervisor. As he stepped off of a train when returning from military service, uncertain of his next step in life, serendipity brought him a job offer from a fellow passenger. His life in Durham blossomed as he met his wife and started a family – he often reflected about how different his life would be without his spontaneous career. His apartment is decorated with elaborate paintings and intricate pottery that he crafted, but he currently lives with advancing visual impairment stemming from both age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma, preventing him from enjoying his artwork or creating more. Seth created a pattern and cross-stitched the Chesterfield Building in Downtown Durham, which formerly housed the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company. The writing on the sign is out-of-focus when viewed from up close, but can be more easily interpreted from a distance: this represents the temporal nature of his community partner’s illness.

About the Artist: Seth Flynn

Seth has called North Carolina home for his entire life – he grew up in the tiny mountain haven of Burnsville (closest landmark: Asheville), where he was steeped in Appalachian culture, learned how to tend a garden with his grandmother, and developed an appreciation for the rich stories of older adults. He continued exploring his interest in geriatrics as a volunteer at an assisted living home during undergrad: he’ll never forget his Saturday morning bingo crew. Seth joined SCOPES because he believes that bearing witness to the intimate, sometimes painful, often character-shaping details of a person’s life and illness is a unique privilege, one that warrants immortalizing the essence of that encounter through art. In his free time, he enjoys playing piano, strumming a few chords on the ukulele, and tackling Pinterest DIY projects.