Welcome to paradise
"Welcome to paradise" is an ongoing project that helps me to get over narcissistic trauma and understand the nature of the tyranny of the ideal.
It is in human nature’s desire to return to the lost paradise. The disorienting space between the documentary of photography and the emotionality of modernist painting expands our perception of reality and can remind us that we always carry our own piece of paradise deep inside. Modern society is also disorienting by imposing a narcissistic idea of paradise as an ideal, but it is impossible to find peace of mind there.
Global instability forces people to simplify, divide reality into black and white, or flee to an artificial paradise. Our reality with all its complexities and contradictions is far safer than any polarizing concept, no matter how compelling the ideology behind it may sound.
To regain the lost paradise is to find a balance between the feminine and masculine energy that exists in every person. Then the light turns on and the inner child is amazed by everything around. My search for paradise in ordinary surroundings and, at first glance, in the imperfect is not an escape from reality, but a conscious opportunity to ground negative feelings, coexist with life and be productive. After all, Hell and Paradise always exist in parallel, only we choose where to be.