Second Life – Page 24 – Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld

Scylla’s reflections on transition at Nitroglobus in Second Life

Posted on July 20, 2026 by Inara Pey

*Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, July 2026: Scylla Rhiadra – Thou Shalt Not be Burned*

I have said it before, and I will doubtless say it again: Scylla Rhiadra is one of the most gifted communicators in Second Life. Her ability to use art to convey ideas, feelings, realities and truths, and/or to expose concepts and ideas and encourage the grey stuff between the ears to fire on all available cylinders, is second to none.

In the years I’ve been covering Scylla’s work, I’ve always been utterly engaged by its depth and commentary – possibly to the extent of at times putting words in her mouth, so to speak, via the articles I’ve written here.

Using her own avatar as a model, Scylla creates images of a captivating depth and style, allowing individual pieces to be appreciated purely for their artistry and framing. But when taken with her ability to observe and comment upon the human condition, they become visual essays by which she conveys her thoughts and reflections.

I have been seriously focused upon photography in Second Life since 2018. Most of my work has been avatar-centred, because I’m particularly interested in the ways in which we can represent the “human” in a digital simulacrum: how can we retain the things that reflect the complexity and uniqueness of “real life” identity – emotions, connections, our dynamic engagement with the world – in a simulation that, to varying degrees, constrains the expression of these things?

– Scylla Rhiadra on her photography

Such is the case with Thou Shalt Not be Burned, a collection of her Second Life photography built around the notion of transitional moments in life – the form they might take, how they impact us and the time and how they might be looked back upon with the passage of time. Presented at Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, curated by Dido Haas, it offers a further chapter in a collection of works vivid in both their presentation as images and through their context as commentary.

The title for the piece is taken from Isaiah 43.2. In context, the verse holds much value to the subject; however, it also perhaps initially obscures it behind thoughts of a religious-themed exhibition – which this is anything but.

Life is a series of transitions. Some – the major seminal moments of change such as leaving our parents’ home to start life independently of them, or getting married or starting a new career or engaging in a new means of creative expression, and so on – are the ones we perhaps most readily identify. These events so often feel like they are the cliff-hangers, if you will, between one chapter of life and the next, and because they are so impactful of the moment, they can feel as if they are the moments of transition in life.

However, whilst these pivotal moments can have some of the greatest impact on us, the reality is life is really a continuous flow of transitions, many of them small and quiet, seemingly incidental at the time they occur: the making of a friend, a small moment of discovery, a quiet daydream. Moments which flow as a part of living such that when they occur, we may not even recognise them or the changes they invite; instead, we transition in the most subtle of ways.

I’m also interested in exploring ways of making the digital art we produce here something that is in itself a little unique — neither documentary screenshot of a “gaming” platform, nor pallid imitation of art forms (photography, painting) in real life. Can SL art become its own thing?

– Scylla Rhiadra on her photography

Such is this subtlety, we are perhaps unaware of it until a conscious effort is made to look back, be it over months, years or even decades, brings with it the realisation that some of the most enduring changes in our lives originated and grew out of those chains of moments, small and quiet and completely unrecognised at the time they occur, which forge us without the heat and flame of change, and make us who we are.

Through the pieces offered within Thou Shalt Not be Burned, Scylla offers up a series of pieces in celebration of these small moments of change and the settings and surroundings in which they might occur. Perfectly framed as simple moments in time, each one carries its own brief narrative of an event, an action, the appearance of a memory – quiet transitional moments within the everyday flow of life.

Finally, I am interested in Second Life photography as a means of storytelling, which I conceive of as a dynamic and creative dialogue between “artist” and “viewer,” in a way that seeks to dissolve the boundaries that too often narrowly define those two roles.

– Scylla Rhiadra on her photography

There is a richness and depth within these pieces which speaks to us. Transition is not merely the sudden eruption of a singularity around which our lifer suddenly reforms; it is a galaxy of moments, of the progression of life through experience, of growth through the most natural of events faced every day.

Once again, a truly marvellous and deeply engaging exhibition from one of Second Life’s most engaging photographic artists.

Note: Thou Shalt Not be Burned officially opens on Monday, July 20th, 2026 at 12:00 noon SLT with music by DJ Magda.

SLurl Details

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery (Sunshine Homestead, rated Moderate)

A Swaying Shelf and a Greenwitch Café in Second Life

Posted on July 20, 2026September 14, 2026 by Inara Pey

*The Swaying Shelf, July 2026 – click any image for full size*

In my previous Exploring Second life piece, I wrote about Storywood Sanctuary, noting that it is one of two settings located in the Mainland continent of Heterocera designed by the Wild Abundance team. The other of these locations is The Swaying Shelf, sitting a little further to the east along Mock Heather Road, and which I also recently visited.

Around twice the size of Storywood Sanctuary, The Swaying Shelf contains themes and motifs in keeping with the former whilst offering its own character and nature.

There is no set Landing Point, but a pair of tree houses (the excellent Yara Treehouse by Cory Edo) sit close to the roadside, one of which acts as the entrance from the road – just climb and descend the steps. As this delivers visitors from the road to the setting’s footpath, I’ve arbitrarily used a SLurl in this piece which will drop you more-or-less onto the same spot on the footpath.

The path forms a loop around an arbour on its opposite side to the tree houses. Draped in vines and with grass for a carpet, the arbour sits as a cosy reading room complete with rocking chair and blazing fire in the hearth.

Pointing eastwards, the path, lit by lanterns – the setting had its own day / night cycle – makes its way past another tree house, this one atop a tree apparently growing out of a storybook, before weaving its way to where a gate provides access to the Greenwitch Cafe.

Whilst larger than Storybook Sanctuary, The Swaying Shelf is more open in nature, just the one path winding through it and most of the land is give over to trees and flowers. Which is not to say it is not without its own little details worth looking out for; in this regard, do be careful where you tread when you’re approaching the gate to the café next door.

Sitting in a parcel of just 1024 sq metres, The Greenwitch Café sits just over the region boundary from The Swaying Shelf.

As a part of The Nature Collective, the café has been designed by the extended Cerulean family under the Le’eaf & Co banner. This talented group are responsible for many such builds beautifying corners of Mainland, a good few of which I’ve covered in these pages, as well as operating the Cerulean estate, which I’ve also written about several times.

*The Greenwitch Café, July 2026 – click any image for full size*

Savour garden-to-table meals in a queer-owned, cannabis-friendly café nestled in the Lake District, surrounded by forest and blooms. Everything is grown on-site — from herbs to healing plants. A cosy, magical LGBTQIA+ friendly retreat.

– Greenwitch Café About Land description

Apparently utilising a converted shipping container as its structure, the café offers outdoor seating on the wooden deck placed before it and on its roof, there latter reached by a set of outside stairs to one side of the deck. Additional seating for visitors sits just to the right of the entrance gates in the form of a small pergola neatly and cosily set with furnishings and décor.

As the About Land description and signs on and around the café make clear, this is a place to enjoy a drink or two and nibble on something sweet or savoury – or which may well give a person a certain buzz, shall we say.

The Landing Point sits between between the sweep of Mock Heather Road and the gabled gates providing access to the café’s grounds, it being only a few steps from the gates to either the café or the pergola.

Bees and Silkies – Chinese silk chickens – are cared for here, and it’s easy to assume the honey produced by the former finds its way into and onto some of café’s offerings. Eggs from Silkies are known to be especially rich in favour, so its likely some of these also find their way into the cafés kitchen – although Silkies are often kept as much for pets / exhibition birds as they are for their eggs. Towards the back of the land is a neat little area with pagan / occult-ish vibes – and with a neat little twist on the idea of Tarot cards.

Surrounded by tall fir trees and wild grasses, the café also shares its space with the local squirrels – do be careful where you tread on the deck! – whilst a barn owl keeps an eye on all that goes on. I admit to finding the parcel’s Shared Environment leaning a little towards the dim side and so played around with the Sun position to brighten things a little (rather than playing with the HDR slider), but that’s purely a personal thing.

Taken individually or as a joint visit (no pun intended given the nature of the café!), The Swaying Shelf and The Greenwitch Café again demonstrate how small corners of the Mainland can be turned into welcoming little spaces for people to freely enjoy.

Slurl Details

The Swaying Shelf (Itame, rated Moderate)
The Greenwitch Café (Notata, rated Moderate)
Coffeehouses and Cafés

MORPHSIS: art and the question of what we are, in Second Life

Posted on July 19, 2026 by Inara Pey

*Subcutan Gallery, July 2026: Sophie de Saint Palle – MORPHOSIS*

I am fascinated by the idea that the body does not reveal a person’s character, but that the mind creates its own form. The anatomical transformations are therefore neither physical deformities nor products of fantasy. They are metaphors—visible traces of inner states, thoughts, and attitudes.

– Sophie de Saint Phalle (Perpetua1010) on MORPHOSIS

So reads part of the introduction of MORPHOSIS, a collection of 11 pencil and ink drawings on cotton rag paper, exploring the contrast between outwards appearance and inward nature by Sophie de Saint Phalle (Perpetua1010), and which opened at her Subcutan Art and Architecture Centre on July 15th, 2026.

We all like to consider ourselves balanced individuals with a broadly positive outlook on life, capable of meeting the challenges of life good and bad with a solid, well-adjusted ability to manage.

But this is not always the case; people can be overcome by darker, more negative feelings and emotions to the point where that well-adjusted balance is lost. Instead, the likes of fear, hatred, anger, fanaticism – even jealousy and despair can become the driving forces of their lives, either as one all-consuming outlook, or in some combination or other. It is not always obvious that a mind has been so affected; not when considering a person’s outward appearance.

But what if there were? What if deep-seated negative feeling and thoughts, were to be manifested in our appearance?

Within MORPHSIS, therefore, Sophie offers-up drawings of the human body which are not perfect and devoid of the classical lines of beauty one might normally associate with such studies; instead, they are marked by subtle imperfections. Their purpose is to act as a leaping off point for our imaginations within the context outline above: that of negative imbalances of the mind becoming visible. In viewing them we are asked not to see their imperfections as being part of the artistic process, but rather as the darker inner self writ large for the world to see.

Within this context we are then challenged to ask ourselves: If my mind, my imperfect thoughts, were to be manifested in my appearance, what form would I take? What might I see reflected in a mirror?

A layered, personal thought experiment through the use of art, MORPHOSIS is an an intriguing, well-presented and challenging exhibition. My thanks to Sophie for the invitation to visit.

SLurl Details

MORPHOSIS, Subcutan Art and Architecture Centre (Cobian Lane, rated Adult)

Wandering a Storywood Sanctuary in Second Life

Posted on July 18, 2026 by Inara Pey

*Storywood Sanctuary, July 2026 – click any image for full size*

I was back on my jaunt around the Mainland once more, seeking cafés and coffee houses that offer neat little corners of the Second Life experience. Once again I found myself I Heterocera, but this time south of the atoll compared to my previous visit to take in Hi Cafe.

My destination this time was Storywood Sanctuary, the work of the Wild Abundance team founded and led by Aphiris Moris (Aphiris Mercury).

Welcome to Storywood Sanctuary! Here, you’re invited to wander through lush landscapes, dream under the shade of ancient trees, and savour a freshly brewed coffee. Enjoy the magic of this haven, where every corner holds a story.

– Storywood Sanctuary greeting

Located just to the north of Mock Heather Road and not far from the lake on the south side of that road, Storywood Sanctuary is one of two locations designed by the Wild Abundance team in close proximity to one another (I’ll be covering the other in an upcoming piece).

Covering a little over 6,000 square metres, the spot is – as the name suggests – literary themed, focusing on stories and books, and is LGBTQIA+ friendly.

The Landing Point sits within on a trellis-covered deck bearing the location’s name and where books and a table covered in the pages of a manuscript further hint at the setting’s theme. Just mind you don’t wake up Francine as she sleeps close by!

From here, a path winds through the setting, meandering past little motifs and details related to books or hinting at stories. These are nicely done with, for example, The World of Christopher Robin leaning against a tree stump on which a bear is asleep (possibly from enjoying too much honey?); while just off the path, a large copy of Mary Poppins has fallen open to allow three carousel horses to fly out, recalling a scene from the book (and perhaps more vividly, Disney’s take on the book). Feel free to sit on any of the horse for a photo.

In addition, on the approach to the coffee shop it is possible to see the stone figure of a little girl who might be taken as a certain Alice. Not too far from her and mottled by sunlight, is a glass coffin beneath a tree. Roses grow under its cover, but the reference to a certain story by the Brothers Grimm is clear.

Along with these motifs is much else to please the eye. There’s the friendly garden troll under the bridge, the flowering books along one bank of the stream and vying for attention with the butterflies made from printed pages. There are animals and birds to be found throughout; there’s tree trunk offering the chance to take and share stories, and more.

Obviously, there are places to sit throughout, from the library / reading room alongside the Landing Point deck all the way through to the coffee shop (and beyond), with some of quite interesting designs (three particularly in keeping with the book theme).

Not all the places to sit are on the ground or necessarily obvious (again, one of the very booked themed places might not appear to be so but for the brazier with its little fire sitting in front of it) – so taking a good look around as you follow path around the setting is recommended 🙂 .

Beyond the coffee shop is a further garden space available for wandering, a rutting track forming a loop around it while flowers of a more exotic nature grow and a forest carousel turns in time to fairground music, whilst the laughter of children (or wood nymphs?) might be heard by those with local sounds enabled.

Cosy and charming, Storywood Sanctuary is a place that does exactly what its name implies: takes you into a garden of stories and present a setting in which sanctuary from the pressures of daily life might be found.

Slurl Details

Storywood Sanctuary (Sabra, rated Moderate)

The Irelund Museum of American Art in Second Life

Posted on July 18, 2026 by Inara Pey

Back in June 2026, I received an invitation from Rowyn Mariposa (MzStiX) to visit a new endeavour by her fiancée, Pamela Irelund, the Irelund Museum of American Art. It’s taken me over a month to get around to actually visiting – so my apologies to both Rowyn and Pamela for this.

Located within the Second Norway estate – and in fact little more than a couple of good stone throws from where I have my island home, so there was really no excuse for not visiting sooner, given the museum can easily be reached by boat!) – the Irelund Museum occupies a large, modern building of single level design, partially extended by Pamela herself.

For those arriving by teleport, the Landing Point is located within the inner fountain courtyard of the museum, and it is here that any exploration should begin. For those arriving by boat, take the steps up from the mooring to the the door at the top of the steps, then follow the red carpet in front of you down to where the courtyard opens up on the right.

In all, 10 areas (labelled as rooms) plus a hallway, present American art from across the country’s modern 250-year history. The art is arranged chronologically by room and the rooms proceed in a clockwise manner from Early American Portraits, Hudson River School and Tonalism (located in a blue room to the south-east corner of the building) through to Cinematic Realism and Political Art, with the courtyard offering the museum’s single piece of sculpture: Steppe by Antoni Milkowski and a large reproduction of Dream Garden by Maxfield Parrish and Louis Comfort Tiffany.

A highly informative catalogue of the museum’s main displays can be found at the large desk in the fountain courtyard. This provides an introduction to the museum, together with biographical thumbnails of all the artists responsible for the pieces on display, again divided by room.

Designed as a HUD, it is a little large to be opened and read when viewing individual pieces, but it can be minimised easily by clicking the eye-with-a-bar icon within the left and right navigations areas. This will close and reduce the catalogue in size; clicking on the catalogue again will open it at the last page viewed (and will do so, even if detached, allowing interrupted visits to be resumed easily).

Across the fountain courtyard is the Special Exhibitions room, which at the time of my visit this was hosting Fantastic Dreams and Wistful Reality: Maxfield Parrish and Norman Rockwell. A smaller desk just outside this room offers a catalogue specifically for this exhibition, and which operates on the same basis as the one described above. And, incidentally, you can reach Room 1 of the museum’s exhibition spaces by cutting through this space.

In terms of copyright, all of the works through to 1928 are out of copyright; those after that year are within copyright. However, the museum does not sell any of the images, and all are provided for educational / informational purposes, and intentionally presented in low-resolution, thus helping the museum meet the requirements of fair use as defined for copyrighted works under US law.

A group has been established for the museum for those wishing to keep up with events and special exhibitions, and the joiner can again be found in the fountain courtyard.

The Irelund Museum of American Art is clearly a personal labour of love, built out of knowledge of the subject. It is also highly informative and a pleasure to visit and tour. Within it is a further demonstration of the ability of Second Life to both bring art to an audience which might never otherwise to be able to appreciate all of the pieces as a single exhibition, and as its ability to inform and educate.

My congratulations to Pamela on her work, and my thanks to Rowyn for the invitation.

Slurl Details

Irelund Museum of American Art (Rune, rated Moderate)

Pususaari’s summer of 2026 in Second Life

Posted on July 17, 2026September 5, 2026 by Inara Pey

*Pususaari, July 2026 – click any image for full size*

Over the years there have been places within Second Life that have called me back to them again and again, either to write about or simply to enjoy. Currently, one of my favourite places where I find I can do both is Pususaari, the Full region held and designed by Lu and Leelou Von Perkele (Lu Carrillo and LeeLou Graves respectively).

Since it first appeared in SL as a Homestead region design, Pususaari has always been a place of beauty and romance, changing with the seasons but always remaining true to its core.

Pususaari is a peaceful island made for wanderers, photographers, dreamers, and curious hearts. Since 2025, it has been a place to explore soft meadows, quiet beaches, animals, hidden corners, old stones, cosy places, and little scenes waiting to become your next story. Come alone, with a friend, or someone special — slow down, look closer, and feel at home.

– Pususaari’s Destination Guide entry

For this iteration, Pususaari takes the form of a rugged island with a Mediterranean touch to its architecture. With beaches to the south to particularly catch the Sun and split by a sheer-walled headland, the island sits under a perfect EEP setting (so viewing the region under its Shared Environment is highly recommended).

The Landing Point sits on a wide terrace overlooking the broader of the two southern beaches. It shares the terrace with a large villa serving as a patisserie-come-office-come art gallery (upper floor). There is plenty of outdoor seating on the terrace, whilst steps to one side climb up to the island’s main plateau and the farm occupying its west side.

Steps also sit on the other side of the villa, these descending to a flat, paved shoulder of the island, home to the Tipsy Crane tavern (a very appropriate reference to other parts of the island, as will become clear) and the Pususaari store. The latter offers three very reasonably-priced collections of animals: otters (14 in the pack), cats (again, 14 to a pack) and puffins (17 to a pack).

All of the packs are offered with both Blinn-Phong and PBR materials and are copy / modify. When exploring the island it is possible to come across the cats and otters and get a real appreciation for how delightful and well-made they are.

From the terrace serving the inn and souvenir store two further sets of steps, one to the southern side of the beach, the other to the beach as it runs up the eastern side of the island toward the northern cliffs.

While there is open ground to be reached beyond the souvenir shop, the best way to reach the uplands of the region is either by following the east beach to where aged steps start to climb up the slopes of the escarpment, or take the steps from the main terrace up to the farm and the go onwards from there.

The farm points westwards and is small, but still has a field for dairy cattle and two for growing crops – corn, in this case. Beyond the fields, the land opens up into a wide paddock, home to horses and donkeys, a swing in the shade of a large oak tree offering a place to sit.

The main part of the plateau uplands is given over to a large and quite eye-catching body of water bounded by a sweeping arc of grass and wildflowers running from the farm and around the east side of the water.

This lake-sized body has been made into a summer home by red-crowned cranes (hence the reference in the inn’s name), which are happy to share the water with the local otters (and vice-versa). Humans are welcome as well, as there is a cosy little waterside open-fronted shack to one side of the water. Just behind this more steps climb up to the highest point on the island, crowned by standing stones.

The north side of the water forms a shallow arc of waterfalls dropping away to the lowlands. This lowland area is again quite spectacular and can be reached by following – you guessed 🙂 – steps leading down from the horse paddock.

The waterfalls have created a further pool of water where more cranes and their young might be found, and which is largely separated from the sea by a wide sweep of land where tough grasses and flowers grow and trees brave what must be at times be rough weather, going by the one that has fallen. There are several places to sit tucked away here, including one among local seals.

The waters from the falls find their way to the sea via a narrow channel they have forced over time, including through an out-thrust of rock which now forms a high arch under which the waters pass. As they do so, they also pass an old fortification, now deserted save for a lone piano within, as it sits facing the sea.

Further falls drop away from the highland lake, these facing due north and separated from the others. Headlands on either side of them mean the sea below is potentially a deadly mix of eddies and powerful undercurrents as the tide and waters from the falls mix.

Throughout all of this there are multiple places to sit, high and low. They encompass a large beach house on the eastern sands together with a pergola dipping its toes into the tide; another pergola sitting right at the end of the headland separating the two southern beaches; and another summer house on the smaller and more isolated of these two southern stretches of sand. Oh, and the latter can be reached by following the tunnels carved through the intervening headland (and which also connect to the northern lowlands).

As well as places to sit – singles and couples poses liberally mixed throughout – there are also wooden signs dotted around offering the chance to dance. And, of course there are the Pususaari cats. They are quietly spread throughout the island, keeping an eye on all that is going on (even if one does appear to be more interested in the ducklings swimming in the inland waters and carefully remaining outside the reach of swiping paws!).

As I’ve noted, Pususaari has become an established favourite of mine, and with each iteration, Lu and Leelou continue to produce the most remarkable locations to visit. Long may it continue!

Slurl Details

Pususaari (Bisous Island, rated Moderate)

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Savour garden-to-table meals in a queer-owned, cannabis-friendly café nestled in the Lake District, surrounded by forest and blooms. Everything is grown on-site — from herbs to healing plants. A cosy, magical LGBTQIA+ friendly retreat.

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I am fascinated by the idea that the body does not reveal a person’s character, but that the mind creates its own form. The anatomical transformations are therefore neither physical deformities nor products of fantasy. They are metaphors—visible traces of inner states, thoughts, and attitudes.

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Welcome to Storywood Sanctuary! Here, you’re invited to wander through lush landscapes, dream under the shade of ancient trees, and savour a freshly brewed coffee. Enjoy the magic of this haven, where every corner holds a story.

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