C.O.G is a love letter to the cogs making the world go round; working class people and caregivers doing the silent jobs that glue a society together.
By Swedish artist Anneli Olander Berglund
“Mess is like the primordial soup … All life emerges from it.”
COG #1 FABLES / Dragon City
“The citizens that came to stay in Dragon City has been forged by magma and dragon fire, their skin turning into a shade of stone and ash. Little by little they learned how to find the beauty in midst of danger.
The world hasn’t had it easy last few years. It made me want to draw strong people, who could persevere.
Thank you to my community who decided to lend me their person to be included in this artwork!”
COG #2 MEMORIES OF HOME / Hearthaven
“Hearthaven, the central hamlet of the City of Girls, is a place where perfectionism finds no harbor within its borders.
The residents of this town cherish the flaws that compose life’s symphony, understanding that today may be filled with chaos, yet firmly holding the belief that tomorrow carries the promise of improvement.
Moreover, they recognize that embracing vulnerability requires strength.”
COG #3 ODDITIES / Dada City
“Dada City, the place to explore your most cherished facets of yourself.
This city was created while leaning into the Dadaist rule of: there are no rules.
What happens when everyone does what they want to? Would there be chaos or would there be happiness?
A warm thank you to everyone who dared to enter this city, allowing me to draw their character self. I call it ‘my most bananas city’ yet we can find so much love.
…There are a few actual couples in this city, maybe you can find them?”
One of the first cities I made (while talking on the phone) that I later revisited and redrew in Illustrator
From Public Dreams, Private Myths: Anneli x Props
Glossary of the artist’s symbolism – press to read
This is a whispered “I see you” to the window people who are gazing out while working on the things happening within.
City of Girls PFP glossary:
- Blue Birds: distracted by daydreams
- Cats: Intuition
- Cigarette + Smoke: airing out a dark mood
- Devil horns: feeling bad but is probably good
- Eggs: For me it symbolizes power and fragility, all in one. Power is balance, and the whole alpha power growl version of it is tiresome. There is no Alpha. True power is energy, life, and balance, and balance has power and fragility in a healthy mix.
- FOMO Glasses: the fear of missing out in life and in general
- Ghosts: memories of the past or dreams that never came to fruition
- Moon: a feeling of home
- Snake Tongue: the truth speaker who will make someone uncomfortable
- Spots: These are just a comment of recognition from the artist: humans have textured skin; we’re not plastic dolls. I love drawing spots. They don’t have a meaning other than a wish that you don’t feel embarrassed upon their arrival.
- Tears: Tears of strength. Showing emotion is healthy; don’t be afraid to shed some stress.
- Thunder and lightning: Strong emotion and a force of nature; hear me, see me.
- Upside-Down hearts: leaning into my heartbreak
- Volcano: Months become years and you build up something brewing inside, laying in wait…a desire, a wish, something building slowly. You’re ready to erupt. Time is near.
- Yellow Birds: feeling disoriented
- 1 Horn: found a purpose
- 2 Horns: shared a purpose
- A ball of yarn neatly rolled together: issues are now sorted
- A messy bunch of yarn: unsorted issues
- Ankh Signs and Eternity Glasses: Yeah, you guessed it: eternity. It is, perhaps, tweaked more to being connected to the Universe and belonging, to accepting one’s place in the vastness of eternity.
- Band-Aid: an overcome obstacle
- Bare Chest: means everything from ”I feel cute” to ”just an ordinary day.” I use it as a loose symbol to normalize the fact that this is skin, not a red flag waving requests for provocation. Sure, it can be sexy, but it’s not sexy 24/7. Sometimes it’s just a body, a longing for a breeze or not having to wear scratchy sweaters.
HOW IT STARTED
Hi, I’m Anneli. Let me tell you about how CoG came to be.
City of Girls happened organically and sneakily. The story goes like this:
Artist becomes mother. Becomes overwhelmed. Cue family illness and cancer scares, moving from a capital to a small town outside of capital, and hey how’s work going? The answer to that is obviously ‘not great’ or even more truthful as in; I didn’t find time to shower in a week how was I supposed to get work done? But I got family back in health, albeit it took a few years, and the kids grew strong and meals were cooked. Over all a great success. But what did the outside art industry see? An artist becoming a ghost, popping up randomly showing strange doodles instead of sophisticated splashes of ink. And as time went by and time to do art started to seep in the doodles stayed, at first hidden in journals but then creeping into a canvas hiding in the back of the studio (but moved to the kitchen table where the kids were running around as I was painting). I realized the characters in the windows I kept drawing had so much more to say. I needed a city. No. I needed many cities.
In Fall 2020 my Depthcore Collective buddy Justin Maller sent me a DM going something like this “Hey, hope all is well. You got to check out NFT’s, have you heard about blockchains?” I most definitely had not so the poor man had to give me the crash course but kindly did, and that was it. The lure of ‘something new’ helped me crawl out of the hole of fallen housewives I was in, but what had I to offer to this new world?
Enter City Of Girls. The story of my soul. The love song to my working class family. The goodbye to dreams I had to let go, and a stubborn hello to a never ending hope things will get better. Something sweet, salty and most definitely tart – wrapped up in visual poetry.
Where CoG will go I couldn’t say, but currently working on editions of City art, CoG character collections that each come with a custom written bio by Ouvra, as well as zines and a coffee table book and some goodies in cityofgirls.shop
In late 2023 an amazing opportunity to join DRiP popped up and I jumped on it. Today City of Girls content is released weekly at City of Girls / DRiP
When I told my writer friend David Kalal about how CoG came to be he summed it up quite eloquently:
Mess is like the primordial soup … All life emerges from it.
These days I put that quote everywhere. It sums up my life and work delightfully.
MEET THE COG’S
Visit the shop on Foundation to enjoy the art along with the bios written by Australian artist and poet Ouvra. Available to purchase on Foundation, payment in eth.
Roadmap
1.
Understand
Presenting a poetic non linear art project on a global rocky web3 market required a year of observing and learning, and it’s an ongoing process as I onboard more people
2.
Imagine
The idea was always to make the art project & brand of COG one with soft playful collaborative touches. Can you see yourself in the characters – or should we draw you in, literally, into the cities?
3.
Create
COG is an ongoing project with many layers. The symbolism comes from the artist and as the project expands so will the glossary and worlds. So far 3 themes have been minted and there are weekly drops on DRiP happening
4.
Build
Currently there’s a coffee table book in the making, and of course being an art project there will be art and prints offered. The bigger goals would be immersive gallery shows world wide, but one step at a time.
“The City of Girls is visual poetry, a story to wander through and a story to invent even as you are being carried by its flow.”
— City Of Girls in the lovely words by David D. Kalal
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