Two Sides to Every Wall by Chipka
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
Were I to design a city (and perhaps I have, if one’s personal city of the mind counts) I’d make sure to incorporate a convoluted, near-labyrinthine wall to bisect the city into halves. I’d do this, not to isolate one half of the city from the other, but to simply provide writing space for the city’s inhabitants. The wall, of course, would be accessible to everyone. A person would be free and encuraged to cross from one side of the city to the other through opulent and inviting gateways. The Wall of Chippia (and why would I call my city anything else?) would exist as an expression of everything but separation. It would figure, rather prominently, in municipal ceremonies involving crossings, re-crossings, and transits. The Wall of Chippia would—in essence—represent transgression; it would defile the very concept of what a barrier wall is supposed to be, by simply standing as an invitation to always journey to the other side, to render aggressive, insular barrier-walls useless.
The Wall of Chippia would also possess windows. Small ones. Large ones. Plain ones. Ornate aggregates of stained glass, plastic, or whatever else window-makers would desire. There would be circular roads, always leading away from the wall…I’d call them Möbius Roads, though they’d lack the mathematical complexity of Möbius strips (those odd “one sided” objects achieved with a single strip of paper and the strategic placement of tape.) Each Möbius Road would loop back (after a number of cunning convolutions) to the opposite side of the wall, and travelers along such roads would reach the start of their journeys from the opposite direction. Chippia would be its own universe each of its sides would meld, seamlessly into its opposite, and each of its opposites would meld with their surroundings. Chippia (with its complicated and rather ornate wall) would be an open city, and an embrace of political anarchy in that there would be no arbitrary ruling class. True Anarchy (note the capitalization) is woefully hard for humans to achieve, but in the city-state of Chippia, a more literal meaning of the word would come into common use. Anarchy, the opposite of a monarchy/oligarchy/etc would be the municipal ideal. This presents a number of complications that would overwhelm the character-limits of a single post on this site, but suffice it to say, Chippian anarchy (like the Chippian Wall) would be a transgressive thing, likely to offend and greatly disturb both “conservatives” (note the use of quote marks) and loud-and-rowdy hooligans interested in a mis-interpretation of anarchy’s true socio-political definition. Chippia (and this is why it doesn’t exist) would thrive on Rule of Concensus. It would be, at least ideally, a true democracy in the way that some concepts of anarchy embody the ideas of democracy. In this way, however, a lot might be accomplished, but on the down-side of that, aspects of city life would exist in a perpetual state of…well…stalemate. Ah, but perhaps this illuminates another aspect of life in Chippia. There would be ambition, there would be progress, things would get done…broken things would get fixed…but life would balance in a perpetual state of beneficial stalemate. (There’s a lot more to say about that, but I’m nearing the end of my character allotment, and so I’ll simply stop the description here.)
I first thought of my city of the mind when I saw the wall here. It’s an external support belonging to a storefront church in non-storefront drag. I have no interest in the church in question and the thought of going into such a church makes me itch, but I like it’s south-facing external wall.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.
**You might wanna ZOOM in to full view for the details in this one.

Comments (12)
what I find interesting are the layers as if the wall was created like the sedimentary ocean bed
Now THAT is a WALL! I like your version/idea of what a wall should be, but this one has mass and gravitas and the single window speaks volumes. Apparently there's only one person who needs to see out. I wonder if that's a symbolic religious commentary? Great picture, and a fantastic text.
It's the third side of the wall that's the interesting one, don't you think? The one that's the merger of the obvious ones? Beautiful capture!!!
love this chipka--the colors and textures are startling!
The pattern and plethora of bricks makes it hard for me to focus. The fact that this is the wall of a church makes perfect sense although it could also be the wall of party headquarters for a political organization. Same difference. Everyone marching in lockstep. Just another brick in the wall.
Great writing! What a wall that is and perfect for purpose in the circumstances.
Oh, i want this wall in my garden, well, the mini version anyway!! this rocks and so does your narrative,as always!!
Superb capture my friend. God bless.
Chippia sounds like a breath of fresh air feels! I would think further bisections would be in order, then bisections again. This would allow more character to find homes...the Latin eighth...the French sixteenth...the Czech eighth...the italian fifth...and so on. I do have a question about your brick wall, or perhaps two. Has it settled down on the right side or were you having an unlevel moment? And, since there are indeed two sides to every wall, is the other side unlevel too?
SUPERB WORK!
So what is writtin on that wall maybe?? SUperb shot of it indeed :)
I like the stark contrast!!!