The Building

Evergreen Review

The Building was a small town on a small island, a world between worlds, a halfway house. The small town was a building––a twenty-one-story tower that boasted of the Retired Colonel’s quarters and office, a police station, and military post, the post office. The building also housed a chapel, a bar/entertainment center, a video rental shop, an indoor playground, health clinic, grocery store, café, mini-mart, pharmacy, an elementary school, a childcare center, and laundromat. There was an indoor farm to cater to the basic food needs of the town, vegetables, and fruits. The grocery store was stocked with supplies shipped in from Eden. Electricity was connected to the electrical grid powered by a nuclear generator offshore.

Eden, which was about seventy miles away, was the closest landfall to the island whilst the old world was one hundred and twenty miles to the east of the Island. People still inhabited the old world––people who once conquered lands, colonized territories, and took pride in their civilization but were now trapped in hellscapes of rising floods, blanket heat, and fogs of noxious air. Sometimes, the wind would blow clouds of gray from the old world across the Mediterranean Sea, and lightweight ash would travel long distances to settle on our coast. School excursions would be scheduled during those times. Mr. Achieng, the head teacher of Thomas Sankara Elementary, would see that the children wore their little respiratory masks and cute little hooded overalls. Each outfit was designed with patterns such as flowers, Hello Kitty, Mickey Mouse, and Ninja Turtles to give the exercise an atmosphere of fun….

Victoria Udondian - Swiss Lace Samples, 2014. 
Swiss lace, ink, Swiss magazine. 40x50cm each.