What if paradise isn’t a distant, unreachable ideal, but something waiting to be rediscovered right outside our door — even within our own backyards?
How to Practice Paradise invites visitors to see their outdoor spaces as more than just extensions of their homes. By weaving together art, history, and personal stories, this work explores the elements that transform an ordinary garden into a vision of paradise, and investigates how the modern human revives the ‘lost paradise’ in their own backyard.
By visiting people’s backyards and examining depictions of paradise across time and cultures, five recurring elements emerged, present both in historical imagery and in the contemporary garden: (1) a water feature, (2) an enclosure, (3) a symbolic tree, (4) a garden mascot, and (5) a space for contemplation, relaxation, and exploration. These five elements form the foundation of the physical installation, crafted from stone, wood, and ceramics, and are further explored in the accompanying printed publication. The book delves deeper into the research, pairing ancient imagery with contemporary examples. How to Practice Paradise offers a guide for garden-owners to find the extraordinary within the ordinary, and helps us realize that paradise isn’t so far away after all.
Graduation project
BA Graphic Design
WDKA 2025
This installation was exhibited at the Willem de Kooning’s Academy Graduation Show.
July 2025 at Katoenhuis, Rotterdam.
Photo’s by: Meike Driessen