With Pigeon Paradise, Lucas Castel (BE) enters the world of competitive pigeon racing, a sport rooted in the mining regions of Belgium and France in the early twentieth century. The project began in November 2020, when New Kim, a Belgian racing pigeon, was sold at auction for $1.9 million to a wealthy Chinese collector, setting a new world record. The bird remains in a luxury loft in Belgium, unlikely ever to fly again or serve any purpose beyond breeding.

Castel examines the relationship between humans and their birds through the lens of competition, business, capitalism and control: the dedication invested in turning pigeons into elite athletes selected for speed, endurance and performance, a sport that relies on a homing instinct that is only partially understood, and a harsher reality in which birds that fail to perform may be discarded or killed. The book focuses on the pigeon itself, its presence and physicality; humans appear only through their hands, handling, examining and positioning the birds. A sequence of carefully composed poses shows how pigeons are displayed for auctions and competitions, turning the bird into both a living creature and an object of fascination, and questions our confidence in identifying the 'ideal' qualities of another species.