December 7, 2009
A small detail from my new piece “City of Moths.” Dimensions 22 inches by 16 feet. Created at the ancient Cite de la Mothe in Soulaucourt-sur-Mouzon, France, a fortified city built in 1135. It was razed by Cardinal Mazarin in the brutal Siege of 1644-1645, during which nearly all 3,400 inhabitants were killed. The city has remained unoccupied since 1645.
This exquisitely sad and spooky ruin was in its glory on a rainy day in early November. The signs (in this detail, visible in the lower right) were hand-stenciled, and warned “Danger of Death.” Perhaps the signage came a few centuries too late for the humans. Quite incomprehensible to the plants, though. Clearly, the vegetation growing within the shelter of the destroyed fortress had another experience – all sorts of life here which otherwise would not have been sustained on the windswept hilltop.
It’s a thrilling place – fallen ring walls, tunnels, wells, windmills, and many enigmatic stone cairns whose upheaval suggests a pre-Roman civilization. In fact, the siege destroyed a sophisticated fortified city with cathedrals and universities, cloisters and libraries and even grand manors.
“Mothe” does not translate into the English of “moth.” And yet everything about this tragic idyll suggested moths. Even the images have emerged in tones of moth grey and lavender and gold and cream.
In the next few days, I’ll be posting a few more details from the full work.