With November upon us, it was time for me to make a return to Jim Garand’s Grauland; after Primary Colours, I was keen to see what new delectations his fertile imagination had cooked up for us, and was delighted to find that once again, he’s turn his attention to a sci-fi like setting.
My first question on arriving at Grauland / The Deity Machine, was whether I was somewhere on this planet or standing on another world. Certainly the rock beneath my feet and the scrub grass ground upon it looked Earth-like, as did the sea; but overhead the sky offered an otherworldly feel, as did the structure beyond the rock berm undulating across the land before me like some gigantic snake, standing stones raised along its back in imitation of broadly-spaces spines.
This berm would have been easy enough to climb, but I turned south instead, walking over the scrub grass to where a cube-like arch linked an arrow-straight walkway to the gentle slope of a stone-flagged causeway as it slips down into the waters, as if waiting for some form of aquatic vehicle to roll up out of the tide and park itself upon it.
The steel plating of the walkway points directly towards the main, but by no means only, structure within the isle: a gigantic pyramid-like structure raised up on the back of an elevated terrace itself sitting upon a great square of precisely laid and cut stone flagstones. With broad stairways climbing up to huge openings cut within its cardinal sides, the pyramid is home to an alien-looking device standing on its own plinth above darkened water.
It is fair to say that water plays an much a part in the design here as rock, metal and other materials. Channels of it parallel the walkway toward the pyramid, with more channels and pools sit on two sides of the the pyramid’s outer court of stone, whilst other strange artefacts sit over ponds of dark water of their own, as if drawing power from them.
One of these artefacts is to found among a set of accommodation units built below the mean ground level and reached via a stairway descending from the walkway. Containing human-style furnishings, these four identical units nevertheless carry that sense of the alien within them. At that far end stand four pillars, information scrolling up and down each of their faces as if they might be digital Rosetta Stones, keys to unlocking a mystery .Perhaps they are – or perhaps not; there is information to be read upon them – but I will leave it to you to try to discern what might be meant and keep my thoughts to myself.
Beyond the pool in which these pillars stand, the path leads on between rock walls, passing the foot of a tall monolith of dark materials and gleaming teal light standing close to the shore, to come to what is the second largest surface structure in terms of area. Once again featuring water as a part of its central feature, it sits as the home of an artefact perhaps intended to focus the light of whatever sun illuminates this world and transfer it to where vibrant orbs of light appear to be rising into the sky.
Nor is this all; a further large structure sits alone on a small isle of rock to the north-east, both reached and surrounded by an elevated walkway, whilst sitting on the other side of the steel walkway crossing to the pyramid’s base sits a large hall with its own courtyard area. Within it, tables and seating with counters and a bar suggest it is a refectory for use by humans. But it is along the softly illuminated corridor leads away from one corner of this hall that visitors might find the setting’s most curious – and Roswell- like – secret, hidden alongside a military-style bunker with a washroom and dormitory.
No hints are offered as to what Grauland / The Deity Machine might be about; backstory and interpretation are left entirely to the imagination. The intriguing mix of age-worn stone steps and uneven paved footpaths and clean flagstones and futuristic / alien-like architecture suggest a place of both great age and yet technological use. Perhaps, as the name suggests, it is a location that has been revered down the aeons as a place imbued with the memories of gods or spirits, but which is now the home of digital memories of times and events.
Whether it is upon Earth or a world elsewhere in our galaxy is again a matter of personal choice; no clue lies within it as to which might be the case, although the presence of a very Earthly rowing boat might suggest the former over the latter; if humanity is capable of reaching other worlds, than most likely it has easier means of crossing bodies of water. But again, that’s for you to decide, if stories and narrative are your thing.
And if they are not – will, Jim has once again created a place ideal for photography, whether you opt to use the region’s supplied environment settings (as I have here) or opt for one of your own. So – enjoy!
SLurl Details
- Grauland (Liberia Isle, rated Adult)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 