Almost Paradise

Philip Ringler

2016

Almost Paradise is a conceptual photographic work that engages with themes of spirituality, censorship, and the transient nature of material existence. Created during an artist residency in a river village on the outskirts of Shanghai, the piece was initially conceived as an installation—a meticulously constructed interior space assembled from zhizha (纸扎), traditional Chinese paper funerary offerings. These objects, often burned as symbolic gifts for the deceased in the afterlife, range from everyday necessities to extravagant luxuries, reflecting both reverence for ancestors and the lingering influence of materialism beyond death.

The project, however, quickly became a site of contention. Despite initial permission to construct the set within the studio, the presence of funerary symbolism was deemed inauspicious by the residency organizers. An abrupt and impersonal directive arrived: the work was to be removed immediately. Officially, it was framed as a matter of “bad luck” for the village and the organization, but beneath the surface, the act of censorship carried deeper political implications. The exploration of Chinese spiritual practices—especially through the lens of a foreign artist—was an unwelcome provocation.

Undeterred, the project continued beyond the confines of the residency. The zhizha objects were relocated to an abandoned village, a liminal space where history, memory, and decay converged. Here, the final image took shape—a ghostly, makeshift apartment staged within a crumbling structure, illuminated through experimental lighting techniques. Without electricity, light was manually “painted” into the scene: a handheld flash punctuated the darkness, while a collaborator wielded a flashlight to carve out eerie, spectral details. The result is an image that feels both starkly otherworldly and deeply grounded in its temporal and cultural context.

Beyond its visual composition, Almost Paradise is a meditation on the intersection of past and present, physicality and spirit, presence and erasure. The installation’s unexpected afterlife—left behind to be discovered by villagers—adds yet another layer of ambiguity, turning the work into both an ephemeral intervention and a lingering question. Would the structure, now imbued with its spectral inhabitants, be left to stand? Would the swallows nesting within its beams continue their quiet occupation?

At its core, Almost Paradise reflects on impermanence—not just of physical spaces, but of ideological boundaries, artistic freedoms, and the tenuous space between what is seen and what is believed.