Emiliano Zúñig: Paraíso

Emiliano Zúñig: Paraíso by Joe CuccioFebruary 3, 2024

The domestic landscape we inhabit often has an underlying meaning that only the people who spend considerable time with it would understand. Emiliano Zúñig is an artist who lives in the glorious mountains of Costa Rica, and often people will say how incredibly lucky he is to live in such a beautiful place. The fact of the matter is he has dealt with so much loss as this place that was once known to be a center for healing had dissolved. Zúñig was a healer himself, and when his land’s meaning had been lost he was too afraid to ask for assistance. Whilst harboring his grief he began to see this once nurturing place as a space that was holding onto the brokenness of its intended ideals. Zúñig allowed this feeling to wash over him as he engaged with his homeland seeking to depict the intense depression associated with it and the sliver of light symbolizing the freedom he continued to hope for.

Throughout his body of work entitled Paraíso, Zúñig engages with objects found in his lived space that feel worn and nearly forgotten. His images are emblematic of the closing of this monumental place in his life and what remains. A place that once gave so many people joy, rest, and peace now exists as a shred of what it once was. The overwhelming sense of a special land buried in the past comes through no matter the subject that he engages with. Landscape images are of roads and hills that seemingly have no end. Portraits have a directed gaze and gesture that evokes a sense of sorrow. And the obscure images whether they be blurred or subjects halted by objects reveal a sense of the shattered reality Zúñig had to live within.

Despair is inevitably encountered in the experience of viewing this work. The profound loss that has occurred is at the core of the series from one image to the next. Zúñig most definitely is conveying his depiction of the psychological landscape. He engages with what some may feel is an overtly beautiful land and hones in on his response to losing his family’s healing center. A lifestyle that was at the core of his being had been swept away from him and what is depicted here is exactly how he feels. Without the deeply powerful function of this land, it has become a shell of what it once was. Zúñig takes that ideal of the forgotten function and engages with an assortment of subjects that exist within this domestic space. Paraíso is all about the psychological impact that the land has had on Emiliano Zúñig and he generously gives viewers insight into this intense feeling of loss.

Emiliano Zúñiga Hernández is a Costa Rican based photographer. Between 2016-2019 he was president and co-founder of the non-profit association Costa Rica Initiative, a healing center focused on facilitating working methods with the intention of freeing participants from deep-rooted fears, self-judgments, limiting beliefs and behaviors of self-sabotage. On the other hand, the author develops personal photographic projects that seek to establish a relationship between the oneiric and daily life.

In 2020 he made, with his own means, his first photobook “EN LA MONTAÑA”, in 2021 his first collaborative publication “n o service”, in 2022 he created the folio “Lapso de vigilia” made and distributed by underlife editions. His first official monograph “Paraíso” is published in 2023 by Trespasser books in Austin, Texas and distributed worldwide.

Instagram: @emilianozunigah/

Author Info:

Joe Cuccio is an image maker based in Rochester, NY. His images respond to a variety of arresting moments and harness the movement that occurs as life forges on. Inspiration for him arrives from chaotic and serene emotional experiences. Creating images is his way of highlighting humanity’s fleeting existence. He is an MFA candidate at Rochester Institute of Technology pursuing a degree in Photography and Related Media. His work has been exhibited at Memorial Art Gallery and Soho Photo Gallery. He has also contributed written pieces for Museé Magazine and Float Magazine.

Instagram:@joecucciophotos

Tags: Emiliano Zúñig, Loss