BURIED illuminates the ancient and ancestral knowledge that lays beneath the surface of humankind. The exhibition seeks to resurrect stories buried or blurred over centuries, bringing to light the forgotten remnants of history and the echoes of our collective heritage. The timeless narratives of myths transcend generations, imparting wisdom, morality, and cultural identity. They are dynamic and ever-evolving expressions of the collective human imagination, which become buried, blurred, or preserved for countless reasons.

Myths have their origins in the rich tapestry of human storytelling and cultural expression, emerging from our experience of societies throughout history. Sometimes they try to explain the unknown, arising from attempts to explain natural phenomena, such as the origins of the universe and the changing seasons, providing a framework for understanding the world in the absence of scientific knowledge. From a moral and cultural perspective, myths can convey values, teaching lessons and serving as a means of passing down ethical guidelines, societal norms, and the wisdom of previous generations. These stories often help us cope with uncertainty, and navigate the complexities of life.

Despite the vast diversity of cultures and their respective mythologies Joseph Campbell theorises within ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’ that there exists a common structure that underlies all heroic tales. This structure consists of a series of stages and archetypal characters that the ‘hero’ encounters throughout their journey. Campbell distilled this universal narrative pattern into a monomyth, a template that serves as a blueprint for storytelling. From monolithic deities to remnants of the journey and diminutive relics of battle, the artists exhibiting in BURIED depict stages of the monomyth or the ‘hero’s journey’. These moments act as tools to allow the artists in this exhibition to explore the depths of the collective unconscious, tapping into primal fears, desires, and archetypal motifs.

Along the adventure the ‘hero’ encounters a mentor figure who provides guidance, wisdom, and assistance, this takes various forms from wise old sage to supernatural being or seasoned adventurer. Dale Adcock and Lee Grandjean present us with these mentors. Adcock references demiurge, the god of the rational, physical world in ‘Validator’, whilst Grandjean’s bust depicts the Greek God Apollo. The uncertain moment of crossing the threshold and venturing into the unknown is considered by Henry Glover with his dark portal door alongside Dean Melbourne and Tom Woolner in their detailed depictions of seemingly uncharted landscapes. Woolner open portals into, and out of the body, to reveal alternative landscapes and a corporeal meteorology.

As the ‘hero’ journeys further into the unknown, they encounter a series of trials, tests, and challenges, featuring enemies in various forms, the memories of which many of the artists in BURIED depict. Becky Tucker references fantastical creatures on medieval and renaissance maps, whilst considering excavation, memory and citing her work through a relationship to the past. The memories of battle are evoked in the work of Miroslav Pomichal, Jamie John Davies, Haydn Albrow and Carl Andersonís work - are these monuments of battles won or lost? Whilst Emma Sheehy, Guy Haddon Grant, Salvatore Pione, and Rosie McLachlan consider the creatures who may block or reveal the ‘hero’s’path.

McLachlan draws ‘on her background in archaeology and her extensive experience of fieldwork at ancient burial sites worldwide... Creating a treasure hoard of artefacts that belong both nowhere and everywhere, existing beyond geography and history.’ For Stephen Ellcock, McLachlan’s sculptures ‘satisfy our deepest atavistic yearnings and evoke shadowy folk memories.’ In the central story of the monomyth the innermost cave is confronted, with the ‘hero’ often travelling to the abyss. Elena Njoabuzia Onwochei-Garcia, who draws on psychological, literary and historical analysis of fiction to construct and play out refuted experiences, artfully depicts the descent (or could it be an ascent) into the abyss, as layers of paint and narratives intertwine. Similarly, for Jack Evans, his piece ‘In Hell 2.0’ echoes the artists questioning of ideas of aspiration and masculinity through the depiction of a scene from Danteís ‘Divine Comedy’, which narrates a journey through Hell by Dante and his guide Virgil.

The ordeal follows the journey to the abyss, in which the ‘hero’ confronts their greatest fear, undergoes a significant transformation, and experiences a symbolic death and rebirth. David Cooper’s ‘Unconscious Drawing No. 10’, takes as itís inspiration Ovidís tragic story of the satyr Marsyas, whose death after loosing a contest with the God Apollo is described at length. Ovid describes the flaying scene, with indications that would help to visualize it, such as when Marsyas cries out ‘Why do you tear me from myself?’ For Cooper, the viewer becomes the ‘hero’, ‘released from the burden of seeking answers, of receiving more information... Instead depositing what has been accumulated, even if it is unpleasant.’ This seems to echo  the Biblical story of Genesis Chapter 3 - the fall of man, in which the pain of life is revealed to humanity. Adam Dix’s painting ‘The Great Reveal’ explores this moment in luscious layers of oil glazes. The symbolism of Biblical stories is also considered in Cristiano Di Martino’s ‘Borrowed Time’ - the myth that God transformed Adam’s rib into the woman Eve.

This transformation echoes resurrection and the transformative process featured in the four artists who present works in bronze for BURIED: Joshua Goode, Tim Shaw RA, Hugo Winder-Lind and Chantal Powell. Each artist presents relics from various stages of the monomyth, but what unites them is the process used to create their work, one which uses fire and heat to transform an idea into a solid form. For Powell, the gilded bronze sculpture, ‘Unification’, is inspired by the conjunction illustration from the Rosarium Philosophorium, a 16th-century alchemical treatise. The original manuscript image depicts a king and queen (or brother and sister) holding branches that connect above a dove, symbolizing the unification of opposites in the alchemical process. The ‘hero’s journey’ can be viewed as an allegory for personal growth, just like the alchemical process. As the ‘hero’ moves through their adventure, they gain new knowledge, skills, and insights, similar to the alchemist seeking the philosopher’s stone.

The resurrection and transformation does not end here, Ana Milenkovic presents us with a monumental couple transitioning from corporeal to celestial existence, named after the main characters from Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘The Buried Giant’ (Beatrice), the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh (Gilgamesh) and, alternatively, Leo Tolstoy’s ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ (Ivan). The couple embodies human concerns about our own temporality and the meaning of life. While Mark Jackson’s larger than life painting is literally ‘raising the ancient dead with pure intonation’.

At the end of the journey the transformation is complete, the monomyth is unearthed, but (as the saying goes), you have to go to hell and back to find out who you truly are.

Text by Sophia Olver