The Garden Before Adam

Technique & Style

Abstract, Digital illustration

Symbols

garden, moon, pomegranate

Animals

crane, tiger

Notes

Artist statement: "This painting imagines Eden in its primordial stillness, untouched by human presence. Often, depictions of paradise focus on the moment of temptation or the exile of Adam and Eve. But what was Eden before the arrival of its first inhabitant? I sought to create a world that is both vibrant and eerie—alive yet expectant, filled with symbolic tensions beneath its surface. A Shoebill-like bird, known for its prehistoric stillness and piercing gaze, stands watchful in the foreground, a silent witness to the untouched paradise. Beside it, a Tasmanian Tiger—a species that no longer exists—wanders through the dense foliage, its stripes blending into the shadows. These creatures do not belong together in reality, but here they coexist in a mythic space, emphasizing Eden as a realm outside time. They are relics of different worlds, placed together in a moment that never was yet always has been. The out-of-place moon above suggests a universe that is still forming, waiting, anticipating a shift that has yet to occur. The inclusion of two red pomegranates is deliberate; their rich color disrupts the sea of greens, acting as an early omen of the knowledge yet to be gained. Unlike the traditional apple of Eden, the pomegranate carries multiple meanings—it is a fruit of fertility, death, and the underworld in various mythologies. It represents the inevitability of change, the moment before a choice is made. Here, however, no hand has reached for them yet. They hang in the balance, much like this untouched paradise itself. ‘The Garden Before Adam’ is an exploration of time, fate, and the silent expectancy of a world on the brink of change. By stripping Eden of its usual human figures, the painting redefines paradise—not as a place of innocence lost, but as a space of waiting, where nature itself seems to anticipate its own transformation. This is a vision of Eden before the Fall, before the first breath of man and woman, before the weight of knowledge—a paradise not yet claimed, yet already heavy with inevitability."

Church Name

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints