Running from October 3 to December 15, 2024, Canberra Glassworks will host Mythica Ignota: Artefacts of the Oscillocene and the Warawana Mythologies, a solo exhibition by Elliat Rich. The installation invites viewers to confront a world imbued with both myth and material, evoking the primal yet contemporary dance between our understanding of the cosmos and the objects that narrate it.
This body of work unearths artefacts from imagined realms — the Oscillocene and Warawana mythologies — where science and story converge. Rich converts abstract concepts of time, energy and matter into objects that challenge the way we perceive reality. From atoms in collaboration to dimension-shifting snails, these artefacts offer a ritual of daily engagement, tethering viewers to narratives that might otherwise remain unseen. Through these works, Rich challenges viewers to contemplate the elasticity of time, perceive the sentience in sunsets and acknowledge that matter itself speaks.
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In many ways, Mythica Ignota reaches into the depths of human history and our enduring desire to understand the universe. For millennia, our ancestors have navigated their place within it through storytelling. Rich’s oeuvre revives this tradition, reminding us that mythology once served as a binding thread between humanity and the stars. While modern science offers tools to map and measure our world, it often fails to provide a cohesive narrative that allows us to fully inhabit it.
Rich’s artefacts — imbued with collective memory and cultural significance — act as conduits to an ancient way of knowing. They remind us of the stories long held within the earth’s rhythms, of our intimate connection to the planet and of the myths we still live within today.
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