Hamilton photographer creates stunning fantasy world in her attic

There's a majestic, secret garden thriving in an east Hamilton attic cobbled together from $200 worth of wood and flowers scrounged from Dollarama.

It's been a labour of love for local photographer Daniela Majic, starting as a small project to get her creativity flowing, and morphing into aspotlight at The Louvre, in France.

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Now, she's hoping The Secret Garden series can stand as a kind of inspiration for artists, to ensure they never place limits on their creativity.

"Don't be blocked by the things you don't have. Use the things that you do have," Majic said.

The project started back in the winter of 2014, when Majic was facing a creative block. She was rooting around in her attic for props, and a realization hit her why not use her attic as a challenge, and see what she could create in the nondescript space?

She set about making a backdrop, using cheap wood and fake flowers. Some were cast offs from friend's grandparents, while others were plucked from the shelves of Value Village and Dollarama.

"I'm in there every month scouring the place. The employees probably think I'm nuts," Majic laughed.

From there, the series started to take shape, focusing on strong, feminine characters, posing in an ethereal fantasy world.

Except that fantasy world happens to reside in an attic near Gage Park. Pan out from those photos a little bit and you see an unremarkable attic like any other cluttered, dusty, and with random boxes strewn around for storage.

"When you actually see what it is, it's such a cramped little space and I'm usually [taking pictures] from the corner on the floor," she laughed.

She entered some of her photos from the series into a photo contest called the Exposure Awardsback in 2015, and not long after got an email back saying that her work had been featured at a private gallery show atThe Louvre. She didn't even know her work was set to appear in the iconic French museum.

"It was kind of surreal a shocking thing," she said.

After a couple of years of intermittent shooting, Majic plans getback on it come this March, with an eye to finishing the series this year.

The project is proof that situation or setting should never hamper expression, she says.

"People feel like they don't want to start something because they feel like they don't have the ideal location, or the money," she said.

"You don't need a massive budget to create and do the things you want, right now."

adam.carter@cbc.ca