SOIL WINE SERIES

During my journey to Armenia, among all the villagers, a street cleaner caught my attention. Every day, with a gentle smile, she collected the town’s litter and ended her work by setting the dry leaves on fire. Her weary yet kind face, framed by the dancing flames, seemed detached from time itself. In silence, she watched the fire devour the leaves as smoke and ash embraced her face—unafraid, even of death, surrendered to a mysterious rhythm.

There was a profound duality in that moment: the human presence poised between being and nothingness, between the warmth of fire and the coldness of ash. To burn, to turn to ash, and perhaps to rise again…

I keep the ashes of that image in memory, a reminder that life is always in motion—suspended between fire and ash.