Cities of You

City #6: Uaeinn (Katie D)

18 x 24", Pen and Gouache on Paper

Uaeinn is a city made up of many smaller sub-cities, each contained within a cross section along implausibly elevated columns. What is curious about Uaeinn is that it started as a single city. But in order to keep intruders at bay, its citizens decided to make clones of their city, keeping the identity of the real city privy to only a select few. Over time, inter-city debate arose about the identity of the real city. However, unlike what one would expect, no city aspires to be the original city, but, to guarantee its safety, ensures it looks the same as its neighbor, since it cannot be labeled as the original city if it is copying another one. Since a city can have multiple neighbors, the result is constantly evolving city groups, playing endless games of telephone, where two cities can look identical one day and wildly different the next.