The Story of the Yellow Wallpaper World

The Story of the Exploration of the Yellow Wallpaper World,

By Lucinda Holmes


These are the notes that I have taken during my exploration of ‘Yellow Wallpaper World’. These explorations are still incomplete, and this will develop into a complete report of this newly discovered land.

I am sitting in this newly created world.

I am not completely on the wallpaper world, but sitting in one of the four armchairs. The arm chairs rest their feet on the world, but when you are sitting in one of the chairs you exist in an in-between state, sort of floating above it like god but still able to reach down and touch this world and its things. You can look out and see the land stretching out around you. Your feet rest lightly on the world, but they do not carry your weight and you could lift them off the ground and be truly floating about this world. Strangely you can see yourself (your feet and or legs) in the reflected world of the mirrors. The mirrors are sort of part of the world, but it is purer form of this “yellow wallpaper world”. The mirror world is timeless and continues on forever. There is railway line, which begins in the yellow wallpaper world but carries on forever in the mirror version. I am going to start with the different parts of the “yellow wallpaper world”, but before I do this I need to explain its name. When I first discovered the world I became fascinated by the wallpaper that was peeling off. I found it very odd that the room was called the “yellow wallpaper room” as the wallpaper is actually blue and not yellow. A previous artist in residence had created an installation in response to a short story called the “Yellow wallpaper Room” in which a women stays in a room with yellow wall paper, but starts to see a women trapped behind the pattern of the wall paper. The lady who stays in the room tries to free the trapped women by ripping down the wallpaper, but sort of becomes trapped behind the wallpaper as well. A scary story, with a central character who personifies a woman who is passive, fragile and melancholy, and insane. The woman is still here in the room but hits behind the door. She doesn’t look at the world but at the sky, which was the wallpaper, but has now become a blue sky. Now I will describe the different terrains of the “yellow wallpaper world”.

‘Lumpy Rock Forest’

The first bit I want to talk about is the lumpy rock formation forest that is near the lakes. It is damp and misty there. The rocks are huge, but not jagged. You can walk amongst them but they tower above you. In the shadow of some of the rocks there are luscious green moist loving plants. In other areas of the rock forest the rocks are surround by desert. In one part, there is a long line of rocks, which you can follow; it sort of guides you through the barren brown wasteland that surrounds it. It is quite easy to get lots in the barren wasteland as many parts of the terrain are repeated and it is very difficult to get an accurate idea of where you are. The rock forest is also expansive, but this area would be a good place to hide. If you climb to the top of one of the outcrops you can see the lakes, on one of the lakes is a boat, a huge steamer that travels from one side of the lake to the other. There aren’t any people on the steamer.

Near the rock forest are the green crop fields. There are many of them. Some of them are barren expanses, which take days to travel across. You have to be very careful to carry water with you, as in this part of the world there is little access to water. The fields are large and predominantly flat, you can see small undulations in them, some of these may be due to prehistoric buildings of burial grounds. Though water is difficult to come by there is a modern water system that has been set up. It in part irrigates the barren wastes, but also brings water to the giant towers that hold many different functions. These towers, the ‘Cathedrals of Function’. Inside them there is a hollow chamber which continues up to the sky surrounding the central core are all the processing lines within which you can travel. If you decided to walk up the towers it would take you several days. There are three towers, which are the ‘Metal Open Systems’, but they are housed in an invisible biosphere, which contains especially rich oxygenated air. You can travel there to breath amazingly refreshing fresh air, and listen to music from far away places. The music fills the entirety of the biosphere. There are different modes of music in each of the different biospheres. The best way to travel between each biosphere / metal open tower is by the irrigation system. For the sake of purity you travel in a special capsule, which takes you under the water surface along the flow of the water. The water flows in both direction in each irrigation river. The linked towers are near one of the yellow wallpaper world’s two suns. This is the main sun, it is not brighter but illuminates are larger part of the world than the other sun, which casts a soft light over the ocean. This sun is called the Pure Blue Sun, where as the sun the Golden Blue Sun. Neither sun casts a blue light. The yellow wallpaper world is perpetually in a yellow light. Sometimes the light of sunrise sometimes the light of sunset. Which one it is depends on the mood of the traveller to the world. No one really lives here, unless you see them. At the moment I am the only person who is in the world, I am still travelling around it, and I haven’t met anyone else here as yet.

‘Wooden Plain of Change’

Now we are going to the most important part of the yellow wallpaper world, the world that is very close to the ‘Golden Blue Sun’, so close in fact that part of its system is in the suns own personal shadow. We come to the centre of the power of change. There is so much power in this area you can feel it as you get close, like static electricity. There is no sound, it actually so quite you can hear the blood travelling through your ears. No one can get to the ‘Wooden Plain of Change’. You can observe if from the many circular viewing towers, which surround it. I would imagine that if you could travel across the wooden plain of change it would take about 2 days, but no one really knows as space and time are condensed with its rings. I am yet to attempt to calculate how many years are held within it. After I have discovered the number of years that it contains I still have to try to find out how long a year is, as it is not off this world. It’s epic history originates in the land of ‘Elsewhere’ which also contains the “yellow wallpaper world”, but the yellow wallpaper world is on the third floor and is in another dimension which is itself in two parts, one of touch and one of ‘Mirror Pure Plains’. The ‘Wooden Plain of Change’, as the story goes, was in ‘Elsewhere’ on the 1st floor world, and was thrown into “underwater world”. As soon as it was thrown into underwater world the tree fell down, at that exact moment. This felling of the tree caused the tornado to come to be. The tornado is still there perpetually in turmoil, you can touch it but it starts to take you with it, so it is best not to. The world changing power of the “Wooden plain of Change” was then truly appreciated it. Another resident of ‘Elsewhere’ transported it to the third floor where it was placed amongst other objects of great awe and power. It has only recently in the history of the “yellow wallpaper world” been transported here. How it got here is still surrounded in myth.

‘Circle of Purity’

The “wooden plain of change” has been placed next to the ‘circle of purity’. Part of the many shells of the ‘Circle of purity’ surround the “Wooden plain of change’ this is in part in homage and it part protection, though no one knows what it is being protected from, perhaps itself. You can access the ‘Circle of Purity’ but you have to climb up and over the silver bridge. The act of climbing the high ladder involves a process of loosing yourself and overcoming your mind; and its fears, and generally clutter. Along the top part of the bridge you are required to sing a pure note, that is not music or tuneful. If your note is not pure the bridge may oscillate and break, causing you to fall down to the ground far beneath. The last part of the bridge involves descending down the ladder with your eyes closed. When you finally reach the surface of the “Circle of Purity’ your feet touch it with surprise. You then walk with your eyes closed to the centre. The closer you reach to the centre before you open your eyes the more sublime the experience of the “Circle of Purity’ but there is no fence around the edge of the ‘Circle of Purity’ so your walk is always one of possible falling off the edge; over the towering cliff. From the “Circle of Purity” you can truly imagine being on the “Wooden Plain of Change”. You can’t see its surface, but imagine and feel it. The “Circle of Purity” is like a virtual copy of the “Wooden Plain of Change”; it is there to help fulfil the power of the “Wooden Plain of Change” without activating its power.

“Multi Purpose Transit Station”

The ‘Multi purpose Transit station’ is situated towards the main portal into ‘Yellow Wallpaper World’ it partly guides visitors in. At the ‘multi purpose transit station’ can act as a port or as a train station, it is also partly a space station. Along the conduit there are dwellings that could house a thousand people, but they are for various acts of cleansing. There are baths, swimming pools, and a medical centre housed in the conduit dwellings. There are five stasis dwellings that are off the conduit these are for various forms of reflection. One holds the world’s philosophy but only in audio form, another holds numbers, and the other two hold non-word formed thoughts. It was decided that they should be off the conduit to allow stillness. As stillness is necessary to fully comprehend what each contains. Towards the main part of the ‘Multi purpose transit station’ is the hub, this is purely icon, and it is a giant megalith and predates the construction of the ‘multi purpose transit world’. The building is enormous; it exceeds the height of several rocks in the ‘rock forest.’ Surprisingly the space inside is extremely intimate and cosy, you are unable to stand up and have to bend you’re head. There are no lights inside the giant megalith, though it is predominantly solid it is made from a semi translucent white material and the light comes through, though it is unnecessary as there isn’t anything to see inside the megalith.

‘Life Collectors’

On the other side of the ‘Great Plain’ are some “Life Collectors’. These are huge processing units that collect the elixir of life from special pools that came from an outside ‘Elsewhere’ dimension. The electric blue ‘life juice’ harvested and then stored in the metallic coils that surround the central well. The ‘Life Collectors’ would be able to communicate with each other via their aerial transmitter, but currently the air is clean and free from radio or any other waves. This is a policy that has been set up in ‘Yellow wallpaper world’ but the construction company the built the ‘
Life Collectors’ predicted that in the future that the air might contain radio and other types of waves. Though it has been many years since the beginning of the ‘Yellow Wallpaper World’ radio waves are still absent from its atmosphere. The ‘Life Collectors’ harvest life so that if anyone should need any more it can be tapped. Currently no one lives in this world so there is an access of life. If the status quo continues and the ‘Wooden Plain of Change’ remains inactive, or dormant, by my calculations a visitor could access enough life to achieve immortality. The only problem with my calculation is that I still do not know how long a year lasts in either dimension, or in the Yellow Wallpaper World what the relationship is between years in the mirror world or the actual world.

‘Green Poem’

We travel now to a higher level. This is a very special place, ‘Green Poem’. There is no laughter in this place, but smiling is permitted. If lovers were to walk together this would be where it would happen. But, I doubt that they would talk, they would just ‘be’ in each other’s presence. This place is also for solitary walking or sitting, or standing. Sometimes people come here to be neutral or perhaps sad, but not wailing, this is an almost silent place. You can hear the wind through the fir tree and this in itself is a seriously intense experience, because this is the only sound and by the time you reach this part of the ‘Green Poem’ it is overwhelming. The grass is moist from dew, but when you walk through it you leave no trace. The ‘Green Poem’ is called this because to be there is like the feeling you get when you read a poem, words are more than just their meaning, and their sound. It is called ‘Green Poem’ because it is predominantly green and it is place of contemplation and reflection. It isn’t as aggressive and serious as blue, but still serious but also has joy there too. The ‘Green Poem’ does not contain all the poems that ever existed, and is not a place for poems to be read. If it was a poem, which it sort of is, it would the feeling of a poem but without any words, or sound apart from the sound of the wind blowing through the fir tree, an almost empty poem. Not a blank page because that is also something different. There are shadows in ‘Green Poem’ but they are different to the rest of ‘Yellow Wallpaper World’. You can see the both the suns quite clearly from ‘Green Poem’ but to look at them is not the purpose of being there, you may look at how the sun lights the ‘Green Poem’ but it is not a viewing platform it is a full stop in its self, not a path. There was once a pagoda in the ‘Green Poem’ but it was deemed unnecessary so was moved to a lower level.

‘The Level of Absence’

Only people who have had someone close to them pass away can truly appreciate this place. This place is wind swept and you have to wear several layers of protective clothing to keep your body protected from the howling piercing winds. It is so windy because of its height above the rest of the land, and unlike the ‘Green Poem’, which only experiences a soft breeze. The dusts of time do settle even though the place is windswept. Over time the absence is covered in a soft layer of dust, time, so that the loss is not forgotten but hardly detectable. One day the different absence could be excavated and looked at again. To make sure that the absences are visible a special fire has been set up there, it is lit at all times as the departed are always among us even when we are sleeping. Because of the severity of the winds special buildings have been constructed to allow the visitors to shelter and collect their thoughts. It is often hard to tell is voices that are carried by the wind are of the living or of the departed. I have read stories of sightings of ghostly spirits walking slowly round in circles on the ‘Level of Absence’. If a person, such as a child, who has not experienced loss, wishes to visit the ‘level of Absence’ they are allowed to travel to the island that is slightly above the ‘Level of Absence’. This protects them from experiencing the sorrow that is felt below them.

‘Metropolis 5’

Metropolis 5 exists on the edge of the ‘Yellow Wallpaper World’ it is a sprawling city, but only part of it is visible. There are thousands of dwelling quarters in this city. Most are spacious and delicately decorated with soft warm colours. The buildings are very well heated, partly because it is next to the

‘Silver Pools’

In the foot hills of the fabric appellations there are granite rocky levels in which are lakes. The lakes are silvery due to the stillness of the air and minerals that trickle down from the mountain. The lovers dive into the lakes, as they do not want to taint the purity of their ideals through the mundane ness that comes from everyday living.

‘Mountain Steps’

Growing of strange plant mountain plant of various colours that allows people to experience that colour through other senses, an edible form of synathesia. On the Mountain Steps are the ‘Silver Pools’.

Projects

The long fields of oil seed rape. Housing designed purely for capacity and not for the quality of life. To make the inhabitants, (it is still vacant) feel more positive about themselves the architect added bright red to the buildings. This means that there are several thousand apartments that are painted red, inside and out. It has been predicted that the red apartments may make the future occupants violent or depressed. In pre history someone wrote that the activity of ‘work’ improves peoples happiness, so near the projects are some oilseed rape fields, chosen because of their vibrant colour. They have been planted in long thin fields; each field is about ten miles in length. It is planned that the people who are in the projects will travel, to the fields everyday at a given time to complete an activity of ‘work’ then after the activity return to their housing and feel kinship with their fellow workers. For pleasure there is a low curving hill that can be walked up, perhaps for underprivileged families to experience together, to make them less underprivileged. Purposely placed next to the hill is a giant cathedral. This was built to house the maximum capacity of the projects so that the inhabitants of the state dwellings would again feel a sense of oneness, nationhood. Unfortunately no one as yet designed an appropriate religion for him or her to follow. Though someone has predicted that people may go to the building and feel the awe of the architecture and then write a religion to make sense of the building and their own existence. In addition to the construction of the cathedral that is on the edge of the hill an even larger construction was built. It was decided that as driving was going to unacceptable in the ‘Yellow Wallpaper Worlds’ with its pure atmosphere any form of driving would have to be in a contained space. The purpose of driving is one of escapism and of speed, so while driving the passengers and driver can have if they chose images of different terrain around them a sort of travelling virtual reality. Most of the time it is expected that the people will just do without and the speed of racing round and round with other vehicles is sufficient.

Ribbon Hills

Below the Barren plain of absence are the ribbon hills. This undulating terrain extends for miles almost to the outer limits of this world. Within the Ribbon Hills is an access point to the mirror of surface. Each hill has a slightly different arrangement of undulations, of peaks and troughs. The Ribbon Hills have their very own weather system, where the weather changes about three or four times a day. But, from my investigations it seems to be raining most of the time. There seem to be a huge range of weather conditions, various subtle changes with the type of rain, different sized raindrops. Even though it has its very own weather system it does not experience the extremes that are consistent to other parts of ‘Yellow Wallpaper World’. Once you climb one hill you see that there are many more to climb. So far I have only climbed three. I am still unsure what geological process formed them in such a perfect circular form, but I am sure its answer will unravel to me in given time. I travelled into one dark deep valley, there seem to be almost as many deep valleys as hills, many I would call gorges. I had to use ropes and abseiled down to the base of one, unfortunately it was so dark I somewhat lost my nerve. I felt sure that I could hear noises of strange creatures down there. The air was very moist, and the vegetation was densely packed and dripping with water condensed from the air. I felt strange sensations as things dropped and fell on my skin or as I brushed into things as I descended. I was convinced that there were things flying close by my ears, but it was so dark I could not identify anything. These gorges seem to be teeming with life, but a life that excels in a very dark damp world. I think they must remain in the dark gorges but I climb one of the foothills at night time and I thought I saw strange four legged creatures climbing out of the gorges and in the thousands travelling over the beautiful hillsides. I haven’t seen any tracks yet, but it rains so regularly that it is difficult to tell that many traces are washed away.

Salt Crystal Lakes

To my surprise below the Ribbon Hills are two enormous salt crystal lakes. They are about ten miles across, but form the most beautiful circular patterns. I am still unsure if these dry lakes were once wet or if they have been purposely constructed like this.

The Electric Prairie

On the coast of the ocean is a huge stretch of grassland with the occasionally wild flower but predominantly an electric green. In the moonlight you can see clearly every hill. When I travelled across it I saw thousands of snails that behaved like rabbits they travelled with great speed across the dewy surface of the grass.

The Royal Scheer Golf Course

Within the Electric Prairie is the ‘Royal Scheer Golf Course’. This course is different from any that I have seen before, there are only bunkers. The point of it is to wander around with your collection of clubs, repeatedly making informed decisions about which club is best for the shoot that you wish to make, but there is no hole. The point is just to walk around hit the golf balls, soak up the green, and look at the ocean. It has been sited next to the brightest moon so it can be played at any time of day. But, I have read that it is only played at nighttime, as it is uncool at any other time. Obviously the light is also sublime at night, it also makes the game much more interesting if you can’t see the balls.

Lunar Ocean

The lunar Ocean, got its name because of how it looks at nighttime, lit up by the brightest moon, which is on the edge of the ‘Electric Prairie’. During my research prior to visiting this land I have read hundreds of poems about this ocean, most of them talk about how the ocean seems infinite and sad. All the poets seem to be overly struck by the ocean. Perhaps I have read too many and this is just cynicism coming through. The ocean is extremely beautiful especially at night when the moonlights up the waves crests.

On the ocean are several sailing boats. They are empty and becalmed and they have been so for several years. The waves on the ocean are swell from a violent storm that happened many centuries ago but the energy contained within the storm still hasn’t dissipated. There is one steamboat that travels to and from the Military Platform and the shore continuously. I got aboard to go to visit the Military Platform, but I saw no one, and could not even see anyone steering the ship.

Military Platform

I found the Military Platform intimidating, to be quite honest terrifying. The sheer height of the construction and the amount of military vehicles and armaments inside were enough to destroy several universes never mind worlds. I will leave my terrifying account of this city of destruction for less turbulent times.

Desert Wastes

In all my life I have never travelled any where as hot before. After spending several days travelling along the great divide, getting lost numerous times in the process, I came to a desert area. There are several areas of desert, with different qualities. These qualities seem to be depended on the geological formations that underlie them. The first one I cam to was made of a multitude of different coloured brown and ochre ridges. In some parts the ridges became rocky islands on top of sandy base. To my joy there I came across an oasis near the edge of the desert, on the top of a towering cliff. From the cliff edge I could look out over the

Dry Lakes

Next to the great barren divide are some dry water lakes. Though there is no longer any water in the lakes there is still moist air. As you walk through you breathe in different air qualities, different scents that still linger above each dry lake.

Fabric Mountains

The mountains are indescribably high in relation to our own mountain ranges. Looking at them is like looking at the stars. The image of the top of the mountains, if you get the chance to see them, is an image that is thousands of years old. It like the stars takes millions of years for its light to reach you. This makes many people wonder if the mountains are really still there, because no one really knows, as the image that you see of them is so old. For that reason is impossible to climb the top, though it is feasible that a family could do so if they reproduced regularly and each generation travelled further up the mountain. If this was the case then they could technically evolve to become a specially adapted to mountain climbing. From the base you can see that many of the towering mountains are made of different types of rocks, each with different qualities some with brittle outer cores, so with rock that is soft and malleable which makes the assent much more hazardous.

Towering Spiralling Pillars

At the foothills of the Fabric Mountains are the Towering Spiralling Pillars. Before I came to Yellow Wallpaper World I read about the solitary figure that haunts these mountains. A woman who travels around them, endlessly changing and ordering things. According to legend her tension sucks any form of joy of life from all that she meets. I felt her presence continuously as I travelled along the pearl rivers and in the shadows of the Towering Spiral Pillars. Though I never actually caught sight of her, or anyone else.

Black Hat Tower

Below the ‘pure blue sun’ is a curious black three-legged tower. I managed to climb up one of the legs and gained access to the internal space, which is actually quite small. Inside there is a room, which a black grand piano in it, and a stool. There was no sheet music there, but I played one note, a middle ‘c’ and the tone was so clear and perfect. Subsequently I found a switch on the wall of this room, which I initially thought adjusted the lighting, but discovered that it changed the acoustics of the room. The space that surrounds the room must contain various compartments that can be opened and closed to create the different acoustics. I felt sure I could hear levels moving far away when I turned the dial.

Snow Ridge

The Black Hat Tower rests on a snowy area but while I was descending from the piano room in the Black Hat Tower I looked out and saw a glorious ridge covered in snow. It was brilliantly lit by the Pure Blue Sun. Running by the ridge are frames of time from a different dimension.

Unfortunately I now have to sort out my temporary travelling desk, pack my bags and leave the ‘Yellow Wallpaper World’. I am now being sucked back into the world that is outside the dimension of the Third Floor and the ‘Yellow Wallpaper World’. My concern is that this world will cease to exist as soon as I have left it. I think that it is only my presence that is keeping it alive. As soon as I depart my narrative will no longer exist and the world will fragment.