Cities of You

City #56: Nembahh (Hemnabh K)

30 x 22", Gouache and Ink on Paper

In the city of Nembahh, relationships carry weight. That is to say, the more relationships you have, the heavier you are. Because of this, Nembahh is a city that slowly drifts, since the only way for Nembahh to stay still is if relationships were distributed symmetrically like a diamond or snowflake. The particularly gregarious citizens compete to pull the city in their own direction. Furthermore, relationships are constantly being forged and broken. The most popular person in town could suddenly become controversial, and the city's center a gravity would abruptly shift in the opposite direction. Lawmakers have put checks and balances in place to prevent any one individual to accumulate a disproportionate number of bonds, which may lead to an urban planetary system that revolves around a single star. And citizens are also wary of those at risk of cutting all ties to other people, which would lead to them drifting, weightless; a planet seeking the pull of another.