"Welcome to Paradise" is an ongoing project that helps me heal from narcissistic trauma and explore the nature of the tyranny of the ideal.

 

  It is in human nature to long for a return to the lost paradise. The disorienting space between the documentary quality of photography and the emotional resonance of modernist painting expands our perception of reality, reminding us that we always carry a piece of paradise deep within. Yet modern society often distorts this longing by imposing a narcissistic vision of paradise as an ideal — a place where peace of mind cannot truly be found.

 

  In times of global instability, people are often driven to simplify, to divide reality into black and white, or to escape into artificial paradises. But real life — with all its complexity and contradiction — is far safer than any polarizing concept, no matter how seductive the ideology behind it may seem. To reclaim the lost paradise means to find a balance between feminine and masculine energies within each of us. When this balance is achieved, the inner light is reignited, and the inner child once again is amazed by the world.

 

   My search for paradise in the ordinary and, at first glance, the imperfect is not an escape from reality, but a conscious practice — a way to ground negative emotions, to coexist with life, and to stay creatively alive. In the natural plant world, opposite forms do not hide, so they are easy to catch and see the paradise garden. After all, Hell and Heaven exist in parallel — and it is up to us to choose where we dwell.

 

   In ancient Slavic mythology, paradise was called Vyriy (or Iriy) - a land where it is always warm and safe, where birds fly for the winter, and where the Tree of Life grows. I invite you to my Vyriy, even for a few moments — to rest, to recover, and to gather strength.