Zaira
Zaira is a place entirely defined by its past. Fittingly it is classified with the "cities and memories" because experiencing Zaira seems to be more about the influx of images than anything else. The association of every object with some event that has already happened there creates an odd perception of time and space. The city now and the city then are so dependent on each other. The present cannot be experienced without simultaneously experiencing the past.
Marco Polo describes it as writing being all over the walls and in the stones - he says, "the past is... written in the corners of the streets." This project's representation of the city plays both on the intertwined words and "the wave of memories" that he mentions.
The mind might take in the city as a flow of images both overwhelming and complete. It is overwhelming as there is so much to absorb when taking in the past and present at once. Yet, as one climbs the stairs of the city and sees the wrinkles on the worn faces, the crumbling stone, and life stagnating - the whole city seems connected through its association with it's history. Each step provides and new image and a new story. Zaira is complete in these images and in the experience of climbing the stairs and seeing each story one-by-one.
