The City’s Natural Habitat
by Claudia Tong
On the rooftop of the office, I find my secret garden—silent, suspended above the rush. Below, the markets scream in decimals, people dissolve into numbers, their lives traded in charts and ticks. But here, I am just breath, skin warmed by the cloud’s indifferent touch. The city exhales in plumes of distant noise, yet I hear only the hum of my pulse, steady, reclaiming me. A breeze stirs the ivy clinging to steel, a fragile green defying the grey. I sit, uncounted, unmeasured. For a moment, I exist as I am—not data, but human.
Claudia is an artist and quantitative researcher based in London, creating at the intersection of physical and digital art. Her practice spans from paintings and illustrations to mixed media, visual computing and music. With a background in computer science and psychology, she has worked, lived and exhibited internationally. https://linktr.ee/claudiaxt
The City’s Natural Habitat, water and ink, 21cm x 14.8cm, October 2022. Click image to enlarge.