Cities of You

City #9: Lajhir (Rahul J)

18 x 24", Pen and Gouache on Paper

You can visit Lajhir to admire its intricately fascinating geometry, stroll its notoriously misleading streets filled with deadends, or enjoy its annual festival of colors. However, most visitors come to speculate about the two colossal man-made mountains that stand in the center of the city. These mountains are filled with garbage, treasure, symbols, and dust. An equally massive mechanical arm continuously moves objects from one mountain to the other, in a pattern only known to the arm itself. Some people say the mountains were built only to display power- to intimidate neighboring cities. Some think the mountains contain the city's collective memory. The truth is that nobody really knows what those mountains were built for- not even the citizens of Lajhir, who never question the presence of the twin peaks which may have existed even before the Lajirans settled on this land. All they know is that the mechanical arm will keeping moving as they sleep, and the contents of the mountains become more colorful with each passing year.