REVIEWS

Fabien Ribery wrote an amazing review on his l’Intervalle.blog in French. Here are some fragments in English, although I cannot convey his lyrical style in any way…

>> TO PARADISE is a powerful and intimate work that expresses sensitivity in the flow of vibrations… It is quiet, noble, solemn, terribly beautiful in its delicate immensity …and inspires serenity…

A few elements on the black page, no more, a fragile flower, from ephemeral to eternity.
 The impression is that of penetrating the psyche of an author who has reached the rare rivers of stillness. ….

Japanese fish, waves, secrets of the primordial chaos.
We are in the heart of aliveness, of clouds, plants, water, rocks.
 There are triptychs – to unfold – that give the feeling of living in some tropical haven.

Firmament and aquatic surface correspond, its geometry is transcendent…– we are not alone within the universe.

Replacing the book – coptic stitched – in its wrapper, one knows it will radiate , even closed, throughout the whole library.

TO PARADISE is not a phantasmagoria, it is the geographical space of Ataraxia.<<

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In addition, der Greif wrote another wonderful article about my book.

REVIEW

Enjoy an excerpt I translated into English below from this incredibly wonderful review (French) by Frederic Martin:

>> This opus questions our relationship with paradise, and, starting from a place dear to the photographer, it invites a broader reflection on the idea of Eden.
 Tranquility… A cherry blossom branch, and a few koi carp slowly swimming beneath the transparent surface. Water lilies and the sky adorned with palm leaves… Time seems suspended in the lightness of the air, the slow ripple of the water. It’s certainly hot, and the world weighs nothing under the blowing winds…
It looks like Paradise, the land of Adam and Eve where even the possibility of sin would not exist, a place of refuge far from the howls of the world, the violence and the cacophony of humans.

Melanie Schoeniger chose to find Heaven while alive rather than hoping for its post-mortem existence. From her travels across the globe, she retains moving, fragile, and delicate memories, but it is a specific island, a retreat far from civilization, where air, water, the warmth of the forests, and the warmth of the sun mingle, that makes her feel fully alive. The concept of heaven here is not theological, or, conversely, a beach postcard, but rather a reflection on unity. Because what do we call Heaven? Above all, a territory in which we feel whole, with which we have the indefinable sensation of being totally united.

Each photograph indicates connection. In Buddhism, there is the idea of interdependence. It stipulates that each element, whatever it may be, does not exist without the others.

This idea, which our modern Western civilizations have completely obscured, nevertheless fully contributes to considering natural spaces not as places that can simply be explored, consumed, enslaved, or impoverished, but as places where we are merely a part of the whole. A water lily, fish, our gaze… Everything is here. Everything. Starting from this, the photographic fragments, delicate visual poems that make up the book, are so many echoes, a eulogy to what surrounds us, but also to Life and the Living. To Paradise questions our place in the greater Whole, in this mystery that is the Earth…

….if we look closely at the images in To Paradise, each one contains the unity, the tranquility we yearn for, that quiet beauty where we can recharge, flourish, and unite. Melanie Schoeniger’s work is subtle, made up of delicate touches of memory, reminiscences of the past, and hopes for tomorrow. The air is light between the pages, the warm water and the convolutions of the fish invite us to dream. We must take our time, savor these exquisite moments, and strive for them to last as long as possible. This is surely what earthly Paradise is all about: a place where we are finally ourselves. Just us. >>