City Floor

There are hundreds of multi-coloured shapes on the ground. They are have each been cemented into the floor. Interspersed are larger shapes; with the same colours. Black, a dirty white, grey, brown and various shades of green. Randomly placed. Around the edges they are encrusted in dust. A uneven edge of thick black dirt. The strip of light on the ceiling sends down beams of brightness, which are reflected by the whiter pieces; sometimes shiny. The base is a earth red, prevailing through the shapes of colour. A tiled mosaic which stores the cold and sends a chilling sensation to the bare soles who walk on top.

How many cities are there in this world? And within those cities how many beings? How many islands of nature are there remaining? Where have we not infected, colonised, dominated, destroyed?

There is a postcard on the open door of the room. It is stuck to the wooden panel with a strip of white jagged tape. It hangs unevenly as it fights the moisture of the paint. The design and colours of the card contrast with the fading ambiance of the ancient peeling room. A shape of a world drawn and coloured blue and green, circled with the words “Save the Human”; a new environmental campaign attempting to raise awareness about the self imposed threat. Overpopulation, extinction of the animal species (our own included), human made killer viruses, super-human bacterias, carbon emissions, continuing mining, drilling, producing. Drying up rivers, melting glaciers, trawling the oceans, ransacking the land, clearing the jungles. Meat farms eating up precious resources, redistribution of wealth and health. The list continues as old news under the heading of 'fading intelligence'. Conscious denial. Inaction. Actions continue, informed Blindness.