My Paradise

There is an image that comes to my mind when I hear the word paradise. It is a cozy and peaceful place, protected, like the inside of a mother’s womb, a space filled with hope. I set out in search of such images of paradise in the real world, and came up with the theme park as a place representing this idea. The theme park is a place made like a paradise, and organized so that people can freely enjoy themselves. I thought if I went to the theme park with my camera, I would be able to capture spaces containing the images of paradise that I held in my mind.

When I stood before the merry-go-round evoking childhood memories, for a moment I could feel the image of paradise existing inside me. But in most of the theme park structures, extravagantly decorated, I could not feel the “paradise within.” I wandered around the artificial structures, searching for my inner images of paradise, until a mixture of space and colors in accord with my idea came into view. Finally I decided to express the images of paradise existing within me through the symbolism of colors within the boundary of the theme park.

This action was a struggle to find images of the instinctive paradise existing in my mind, in the artificial paradise constructed by our society. Since then, I have juxtaposed images of theme park landscapes, reflecting the human attempt to create artificial paradise, and space images consisting of colors symbolizing the image of my paradise. This process has told the story I wanted to tell, in my place.