Lost in Paradise

Throughout history, gardens have elicited intangible fascination. Mystical beauty and a poetic sense for eternal yearning are intrinsic to the long Persian Garden tradition. These values formed the foundation for Western gardens that followed, even giving us the word ‘paradise’, the setting for the biblical Garden of Eden. The Avestan word pairidaēza, derived from Zoroastrian culture, simply means ‘walled around’. Looking in from outside, Iran’s image today is often marked by political and cultural ambiguity. Yet one can experience its Persian heritage most vividly in the arid country’s gardens. In the sparse landscape between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, the gardens lie solitary and almost untouched by time, still serving as places for quiet contemplation. Lost in Paradise offers different interpretations of the walled garden and aims to reconcile contemporary events with the enigmatic notion of paradise.