No other theme has been popular in Escher's work as the tessellation of the plane. Escher painstakingly studied, reproduced and created some of the most fascinating tessellations to exist. An obsessions since early architecture days, I've always fallen in love with how these regular divisions of the plane make for harmonious art.
Over the past weeks, I've had a special visitor with whom I donned my tourist hat and discovered parts of Seoul I had not made time for yet. We went to different parts of the city and while looking back at my pictures, I realised that I tend to take a lot of photos of tessellations. Here's how I saw some of the iconic destinations at Seoul.
Lotte World Tower
A recent trip to the top of Lotte World Tower led me to go up and down this elevator multiple times, much to the chagrin of my travel companion, who was quite bemused that I'd rather photograph the view from the elevator rather than that of the beautiful, expansive cityscape in front of us.
Gyeongbokgung Palace
The Gyeongbokgung palace is the tourist highlight of Seoul and I'd never made the time to be a tourist. Until now. It is unlike the Lotte World Tower - it is horizontally expansive and low. However, tessellations are aplenty in its grounds.
Part of an elegantly carved door at Gyeongbok Palace
Noksapyeong Station
Tessellations in my surroundings are not limited to the fifth tallest building in the world and historical monuments. My neighbourhood subway station is Noksapyeong and looking up at its roof gives me little tessellated thrills every time.
Elsewhere around the World
Older Indian middle class homes and restaurants have simple but beautiful tiling patterns. These tiles have been replaced in many establishments with marble for a more clean and modern feel. A house with old tiles always invokes a dash of nostalgia and the urge to take a photo.
The corner shop near my old home in Bombay had the most satisfying arrangement of nuts. The shopkeeper was always amused that I would photograph his jars every time I came in. I was always amused at how he didn't see why I was obsessed with these tessellated nuts.
Lazy Sunday mornings with some friends. Shireen thinks I'm taking a picture of her but I'm actually photographing the shadow of the window grills on the mosquito net behind her.
Do you notice the tessellations in your surroundings? Let me know.
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