Cities of You

City #9, Visit #1: Lajhir

16 x 20", Pen, Colored Pencil, Gouache on Paper

The mechanical arm at the center of Lajhir continues to move objects between its two mountains. Citizens and visitors are forbidden to add their possessions or refuse to the moving piles. However, at night, footsteps can be heard along the alleyways and back streets of Lajhir- hoodlums or derelicts no doubt, or perhaps fleeting apparitions or midnight guardians. Harsh whispers are heard after the occasional shatter of a clay pot that breaks the monotony of the rusty creaks emanating from the giant mechanical arm invariably moving back and forth. In the morning, inside the mountains, unknown objects are seen sitting on top of piles of dust- remnants of the objects from the day before. Citizens assume no crime or malevolence. Even if you wake up to find a treasure missing from your home, there is an understanding in Lajhir that their twin peaks give as much as they take. Your treasure will find its way back to you in a form only known by whatever controls the mechanical arm at the center of city.