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Rai Mykhailo
We are what we think: we are everything that arises in our thoughts. With our thoughts, we create the world.
Buddha
Do we perceive reality as it is? Many philosophers have pondered this question throughout history. Immanuel Kant, in “Critique of Pure Reason,” concluded that everything we can know through our senses are phenomena of the body. The “thing-in-itself” remains inaccessible to our understanding. Electromagnetic waves are transformed by the brain into light and color, air vibrations into sound, chemical molecules into smell, frequency of matter’s vibrations into heat or cold, and molecular structure into density.
Until the early 20th century, scientists still held hopes of discovering “true reality” using high-precision instruments. However, quantum mechanics seems to have shattered that hope forever. The reality we perceive is a model created by our brains. In many ways, it can be compared to a video game launched on a computer. Our senses do not transmit the properties of objects but rather specify their intensity; it is a map of reality or its description. A paradigm is its generally accepted model, with all inherent limitations.
The question of reality would have remained in the realm of philosophy and mysticism if not for one significant discovery. In 1949, a group of scientists investigated the neural regulation of wakefulness and sleep. They discovered that the brainstem could activate or inhibit the cerebral cortex. This area was named the Reticular Activating System (RAS). Like a filter, it allows and amplifies only the most relevant information at any given moment. 400 million bits of data reach the brain every second. Physically, our consciousness cannot handle such a volume. Only 2,000 of those, or 0.00001%, reach their destination. The RAS decides which information is important and which is not, based on dominant thoughts, expectations, and beliefs. That is why some people see or feel what others consider untrue or insane.
Guided by their internal map, our minds constantly ask themselves: where is this, and where is that? When presented with a schematic image of a mountain, a pine tree, a lake, and a lighthouse, it tunes its neural networks to search for the mountain, pine tree, lake, and lighthouse. Everything else that is not on the map will remain unnoticed. To illustrate, I have a good example. Insurance companies conduct investigations and statistics regarding all their payouts. Among them are frontal collisions between cars and planes that make emergency landings on highways. In most cases, car drivers do not see the plane until the moment of collision. In the reality of most people, planes do not drive on roads.
Now imagine that the map contains not physical objects, but conscious and unconscious representations of oneself. For the RAS, it does not matter whether we like what reaches our consciousness or not; it, like Google search or the Facebook feed algorithm, selects the most relevant information according to our thoughts and expectations. What happens in our lives is only what we believe. This applies equally to reptilians, aliens, the fear of illness, the possibility of recovery, the chance to become wealthy, to find enlightenment, or to be happy. Reality is self-hypnosis, regardless of the beliefs, values, or convictions we hold. When our description of reality is rigidly limited by beliefs and convictions, we feel trapped in a tight shell. Such a life resembles Groundhog Day from the film of the same name. Only by expanding our personal paradigm do we become the creators of our reality.
Mykhailo Rai was born in 1984 in Kherson, in a family of former ship’s cooks.
He graduated from the Maritime College and served at sea as a Deck Officer. In search of satisfaction, he started to engage in photography.
At first, it was nothing more than a hobby until he saw realistic digital photo collages. The ability to synthesize his own images instead of reflecting through the surrounding reality quickly captured his full attention. He finally got the right tools to recreate his inner world and transform it; thus, his interest in traditional photographic practice was finally lost. He began to discover hidden facets of his own consciousness, and this pushed him to find answers in psychology and religions.
Shortly before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, he gave up his maritime career, which he had been building for over 20 years, and intended to live a life creating art that could awaken people. On February 24, 2022, life began to challenge him. He decided to stay in Kherson, his native city, which was occupied by Russian forces, and fight for freedom with the power of his art. This decision unexpectedly brought him to the answers he was looking for: to prove that Paradise (Ray in Ukrainian) is not a place but a state of consciousness. During the occupation of Kherson, he gave interviews to BBC and a number of Ukrainian, US, and Taiwanese journalists about his art and the situation in the city, and he took part in numerous exhibitions in Ukraine, Europe, the USA, and Asia. His artworks are held in private collections in the USA, Netherlands, and Ukraine.
2024
Group exhibition “The Light Will Win” at Le Salon D’automne, Paris, project of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, curated by Natalia Shpytkovska
Group exhibition “One Day” at the Ukrainian Culture Center in Stockholm, Sweden, curated by MYPH
Group exhibition “After Shock” at Vriej Paleis Gallery, Amsterdam, curated by Vladimir Shalamov
Group exhibition “24” at ICEBERG/MiCT Gallery, Berlin, curated by Vladimir Shalamov
Solo Exhibition “Kherson Island” at Sklad N5 gallery, Cherkasy
Publication in Princeton University Library website “Collection of Contemporary Ukrainian Art in Times of War”
Group Exhibition “ARTISTS AGAINST THE KREMLIN” at de Balie, Amsterdam, curated by Vladimir Shalamov and Sjeng Scheijen
2023
Group Exhibition “UKRAINIAN ART IN ITALY – HUMAN RIGHTS | Padova-Kherson” at Centro Culturale Altinate San Gaetano, Padova, curated by Liudmila Olenovych
Group Exhibition “ART WINS the WAR” at Polytechnic National University, Lviv, curated by Giorgio Grasso
Lecture “Kherson. Failure Of Terror” at Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands
Group Exhibition “Concentration Of Will” at M17 Contemporary Art Center, Kyiv, curated by Andriy Sydorenko & Iryna Iatsyk
Artistic residence “Post Truth? Countering Disinformation Narratives” in Kyiv, Ukraine
Group exhibition “Post Truth? Countering Disinformation Narratives” in Art Space “Vezha”, Kyiv Polytechnic University, curated by Seila Fernandez Arconada
Honorable Mention at International Photo Awards Deeper Perspective
Exclusive Interview in Beautiful Bizarre Magazine
Honorable Mention and Jury Top 5 Selection at International Photo Awards
Group exhibition “Post Truth? Countering Disinformation Narratives” in Kunstleben Kreuzberg art space, Berlin, curated by Seila Fernandez Arconada
Group Exhibition “Ukrainian Art in EU. Childhood Reconstruction” at the House of European Parliament, Bruxelles, curated by Giorgio Grasso
Group exhibition “Knocking from the depths.” at ICEBERG/MiCT Gallery, Berlin, curated by Vladimir Shalamov and Olga Dudygina
2022
Group exhibition at Invogue_Art Gallery, Odessa, curated by ISPA
Group online exhibition “Mental Health” at Tebbs Contemporary Art Gallery, London, curated by Kirstie Tebbs
Group exhibition “Stand With Ukraine” at OneArtSpace Gallery, New York, curated by UART & NYCArtMovement
Publication in Bird In Flight Ukraine
Publication in Holod Magazine
Group Exhibition “The Captured House” at Alte Münze, Berlin, curated by Port Agency
Rotterdam Photo fair solo exhibition “The Point”
Group Exhibition “The Captured House” at WEGIL, Rome, curated by Port Agency
Group Exhibition “The Captured House” at DOOR OPEN SPACE, Amsterdam, curated by Port Agency
Group Exhibition “The Captured House” at Espace Vanderborght, Bruxelles, curated by Port Agency
Group Exhibition “Ukrainian Art In Italy” at Bovisa Super Studio, Milan
Group Exhibition “#social 2022” at CICA Musem, Korea
Solo Exhibition “Kherson Diary” in Cinema House, Kyiv, curated by Kyivphotos-Hall 2012
Artworks Rai Mykhailo
