INVISIBLE CITIES

Jennifer Ball

Baucis

Baucis

Anastasia

Argia

Monriana

Octavia

Octavia

Thekla

Leonia

Zirma

Diomira

Diomira

Sophronia

DESPINA

Phyllis

Ersilia

Isaura

Fedora

Esmerelda

Armilla

Zenobia

Tamara

Chosen City
The city of SOPHRONIA is made up of two half-cities. In one there is the great
roller coaster with its steep humps, the carousel with its chain spokes, the ferris
wheel of spinning cages, the death ride with crouching motor cyclists, the big top
with the clump of trapezes hanging in the middle. The other half city is of stone
and marble and cement, with the bank, the factories, the palaces, the
slaughterhouse, the school, and all the rest. One of the half cities is permanent, the
other is temporary and when the period of its sojourn is over, they uproot it,
dismantle it, and take it off, transplanting it to the vacant lots of another half city.
And so every year the day comes when the work men remove the marble
pediments, lower the stone walls, the cement pylons, take down the ministry, the
monument, the docks, the petroleum refinery, the hospital, load them on trailers, to
follow from stand to stand their annual itinerary. Here remains the half-Sophronia
of the shooting-galleries and the carousels, the shout suspended from the cart of
the headlong roller coaster, and it begins to count the months, the days it must wait
before the caravan returns and a complete life can begin again.

Mission Statement
I have chosen Sophronia as the city that I want to develop. My thumbnails for this city were done at the beginning of
the project and were not as detailed or sophisticated as I would have liked. Returning to this city excites me because
I can think more about perspective and the impact of a concept drawing ie; I want to make the images pop. The
use of primary and secondary colours will help this.
In my mind, I see this half of the city as a fairground, with its music, bright and colourful tent like structures and
round or rotating mechanical rides. The theme park experience influences my imagination. However I am also
inspired by Cirque du Soleil s approach to the world of the trapeze artist.
The juxtaposition of the fairground being a permanent structure, intrigues me and adds a different concept to the
word fairground. I want to create images that provoke the senses and emotions of the audience so that they can
almost taste the candy floss, smell the popcorn and recall their happy, childhood days as if they are standing in the
centre of the city.
My drawings will be fluid, detailed and busy with people enjoying life.
Conversely the other half of the city seems more functional, business like, formal, industrial and dull. In my mind the
structures for this half are solid, sharp and rigid. Almost Lowry like in their presentation, the palette consists of
brown, grey, black and navy shades that draw the audience in. A dark sky over this necessary city with its buildings
that are needed for everyday living should be permanent and yet, is temporary. A transient architecture that can be
folded up and moved away like a net, folded from 3D to 2D and moved on by caravan.
I love the image of this caravan moving the essential buildings of life rather than the traditional movement of the
fairground, the less essential buildings of life, to another place.

Influence Maps