ARTAX

I keep returning to a story many of us remember—one that never really ends. So I chose to continue it, and to tell it in my own way.

I set out to “save” Artax—the horse who, as many of us recall, sinks into the Swamp of Sadness in The NeverEnding Story. I traveled to the mountains to photograph a white stallion, carefully covered in mud, imagining how Artax might look if he had made it through.

No AI, no postproduction. Just mud, presence, and lived experience.

In the story, Artax is lost because he gives in to sadness. It consumes him, and the swamp closes above him. The scene, like the entire book, is deeply symbolic. What happens when we allow our thoughts to be overtaken by despair?

The Swamp of Sadness can swallow us too.

For me, saving Artax becomes both a personal challenge and an invitation to others—a gesture of hope. But the image is not bright or comforting. The world is never simply good or bad, just as memories are never purely joyful or sad. Between these poles, I see countless shades—in this photograph, expressed through layers of deep, almost divine greens.

It is within these nuances, between light and darkness, where my work begins.