1. Phyllis Cities & Eyes 4

Phyllis is described as a city which is a joy to look at, but becomes a source of devastation for the inhabitants as they cannot go to other cities. While the inhabitants are initially happy, the essence of being confined to within the boundaries of this city where one loses sight of oneself and sight of their surroundings causes dissatisfaction. They become like a mechanical robot that is forced to follow the same routine each day, being pulled in by the void of devastation and hopelessness. The essence of being imprisoned within the city causes the loss of sight of the physical city where it has the sensation of being invisible other than the necessary path that the human inhabitant must take to work. In this sense the human is disconnected from the world as a part of the world without sensation of the world. 

From this point of view, I think this city could also be an illusion to the perspective of a slave in which they arrive at a new lands only to be notified that they cannot leave and return to their past home. This essence of being confined to Phyllis, to only work for Phyllis, and to follow the routine of Phyllis, all creates the feeling of the perspective of a slave that has just arrived at Jamestown, Virginia. Likewise, this could explain the gaze of people on the man, much like the gaze of the settlers of Jamestown on the slaves. The slaves, in their imprisoned situation, can only focus on the gaze of their routine rather than the gaze of their surroundings as this doesn’t matter to them anymore. 

This is depicted in my interpretive drawing in which I create the drawing to be more of a first person perspective of the man. Rather than seeing a physical object, they are blinded mentally and psychologically by the void of imprisonment in which they can only move towards it. This void is portrayed as having some tints of white, but the overall composition is black to mirror the hopelessness of the man. There are red and green tints within the composition to create this slight intensity of contrast to highlight the intensity of hopelessness felt where the colors are distant rather than close. From this, the general perspective of Phyllis would be that it is an endless void for this inhabitant much like the interpretation I have of it as a slave’s perspective of Jamestown.

2. Zobeide Cities & Desires 5

Zobeide is described as a city that’s dreamed of and pursued by men due to them having the identical dream of a naked woman. The people in the dream pursued this naked woman only to have this naked woman disappear. The people go to this city to pursue the women, but are in dismay that the women doesn’t appear. They change the floor plans to what they saw in their dream, but likewise there wasn’t any luck. Even when new people came, they couldn’t find this reality where they also changed the city to meet the details of their dream. Essentially this creates the narrative of hope and the destruction of hope through the nature of reality. Even as the men wait for their dreams to be fulfilled, they become trapped and pulled by this illusion of desire which ultimately causes the bane of them. 

From this point of view, I feel that this city is more of a narrative of the selfish nature of humanity to acquire the wants of their life where it kind of resembles the desires of past kings and kingdoms to find the fountain of youth. Therefore, I feel that this sort of resembles the Bahamas historically which was proclaimed to have such a fountain of youth that was sought by the world. This is also a metaphorical aspect of the fleets of explorers that the King of Spain sent to the New World in order to find this fountain of youth. Therefore, rather than a naked women being the object of pursuit, it is a metaphor to allude to the riches and wealth that was provided by the King of Spain if such an object was discovered. This sort of dream proposed by the King of Spain would drive many explorers to listlessly pursue this fountain of youth only to be disappointed by the reality that it doesn’t exist and that they become trapped within this pursuit of the dream. 

This concept of being trapped by the city or the dream is essentially depicted in my drawing of Zobeide in which I abstractly portray a human being pulled by the city of dreams, creating this imitation of being a captive of the dream. I utilize this wave motion around the human to allude to the illusion of a reality wrapping around them which refers to the woman in the dream. Having the waves as a wrap around the human would then create the interpretation of being confined by the barriers of their illusion which was true of the men in Zobeide. Furthermore, I depict the human in the drawing to be emitting color as a representation of the craze of human desire to grasp an illusion. Likewise, I feel that this craze of human desire from an illusion or reward is contagious hence the usage of speckles as a reference to a tool of stimulating craze to the surrounding atmosphere. 

3. Zora Cities & Memories 4

Zora is a city that explores the paradox of time within a city. It’s described as a city that none can forget, yet at the present, it’s a city that none can remember. This paradox of detail is due to the passing of time that has occurred where the city has been destroyed and is lost in the memories of people rather than a physicality of memory. In this sense, the city of the present is empty and only exists in the psychological sphere of humanity. Even as its existence persists the knowledge of this city is lessened and lost due to the lack of contact with this city. This essence of lack of conscientiousness and fogginess towards city of Zora emulates the disappearance of the city overall which is metaphorically described “languishing, disintegrating, and disappearing” physically before disappearing from earth’s memory mentally. 

From this principle of physicality existing and mentally existing, I think this city touches upon the concept of existence in itself where memories, otherwise known as history, are the only things that can allow us to live. When this city is described as having been forgotten, the existence is lost, which reminds me very much of the historical city of Pompeii which was destroyed by the volcano. While Pompeii was a physical city, all details of it could be memorized and be known as it was a physical essence. All the historical aspects of details being the names of the men, wars, and others also relate well to the city of Pompeii. After it disappeared physically from being enshrouded by volcanic ash, what’s left is the memory of it which gets hazier and hazier as time passes until it’s forgotten as a whole. Likewise, there are other cities like Pompeii which are buried by history much like the biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah that have had their riches destroyed. 

For my depiction of Zora, I focused on the interpretation and feeling of Zora, this city, as hazy and disconnected with time. Utilizing numbers within the background, I create this impression of the movement and progression of time which is being lost from earth by losing its presence in the mental state of humans. In this sense, I hope to capture the feeling of losing sight and memory of the physical state of Zora where the city doesn’t take the status and presence as a facade but as a haze covered state where the city is merely a mental thought rather than a physical state.

4. Anastasia Cities & Desires 2

Anastasia is described as a city that appears to be desirable and a dream city, but the essence of being part of the city causes you to lose that impression of desire as you become a slave within the city system. This essentially creates the narrative of being a puppet within the puppeteer system where the inhabitants believe that they are completing their individual wills and desires through action but unfortunately are constrained by the system itself where they can only move and operate within the boundaries of the system with the impression of having autonomy. In this sense, Anastasia becomes a rather dark city as the inhabitants are programmed to contribute in what they believe is desirable while in reality it’s a living hell.

From this point of view, I think this city is a representation of modern metropolis in general as the urban cities are seen as gateways to a desirable life only to be met with the difficulties of that life where they cannot really feel the benefits of the city. An example of this might be Shanghai or New York in which people may be chasing their dream of making it big only to find the sad truth that they are only part of the working system in such a lucrative society. For instance, when people go to New York, they may face the reality of having to work strenuous hours without making any progress in achieving their big time dreams. 

This is essentially depicted in my interpretive drawing of Anastasia as a facade to communicate the concept of Anastasia to be a place where one may believe that they see the city only to be met with the sad reality that it is merely a facade, just like how they believe that they could achieve their desires only to be met with the reality of their situation. In this interpretive drawing, I illustrated the city itself as being a place of captivity where the boxes enclose the city from the exterior much like how the people are enclosed by their speculation of success in the city of desires. In this sense not only is the city as a facade a symbol of not seeing the reality from the desire, but the enclosed boxes reflect the speculation of achieving one’s desires which adds another level of enclosure. This sort of city, I interpret, would give off a dark contagious vibe of opportunity, hence the portrayal of the city as emitting this dark desire.