Life’s paradox of duality reveals how two things can be true at once. Joy is reflected by pain and the world is simultaneously experiencing both. We are living in heaven and hell.

I visually document the changing natural world and its artists. Musicians, athletes, and experts who dedicate their entire beings to their craft captivate me, as do the painful current events we face. I breathe as both a fine art photographer and a photojournalist, navigating the space between what is real in the world and what is real in my mind.

We live in a world of ultimate destruction and optimum creation and I am fascinated by what people idolize, what they want to avoid looking at and what humans are capable of producing.

Each slice of life is part of the same whole. Each of us aid our common cause as best we can. I engage with the arts as a vehicle for building a diverse understanding of a shared experience.

This portfolio is a collection of photographs and films curated through commissions and collaborations beginning Fall 2014.

Please enjoy and reach out if you’re called to say hello.

Xo,

Mariya Dondonyan