An original cover for the novel The City & The City by China Miéville, which I’m currently reading. I find the central premise of two cities superimposed on top of each other, all the while demanding to be kept distinct, to be a really evocative allegory for apartheid. Originally published back in 2009, it obviously feels incredibly prescient in this moment of awareness for Palestinian apartheid, a system that eerily resembles the two cities in Miéville’s novel, though obviously in defiance of the strict balance between Besźel and Ul Qoma.

It was a bit difficult to grasp when I first picked it up, but like the residents of the two cities, I eventually adjusted to the strange distinction. The way I visualized the convoluted crosshatching of seen and unseen that Miéville describes is what I tried to convey in this piece.