Visiting the exhibition of Talbot Rice Gallery, the most shocking thing is not the single work, but the subtle “weaving” between them. The four artists come from different cultural and historical backgrounds, such as Europe, India, South Korea and Africa. Their media are also different, but the common theme is like an invisible line, which closely connects the thinking of how the forgotten people return to the world. Space, light, sound and image are intertwined here, forming a heavy and inclusive experience, so that every work is in dialogue, not in isolation.
This structure reminds me of how mythical animals assume power and meaning at different levels. In Eryao’s “Looking for a Dragon”, the dragon is not only a daily myth in family narration, but also a naturalized expectation: the repeated language and images between generations make the pressure of culture and history seem to be taken for granted. Roland Barthes’s words just prove here that myth turns history into nature. In Ai Weiwei’s Animal Circle, the zodiac not only carries cultural identity, but also hides the undercurrent of imperial power and global capital logic. Myth becomes a tool of depoliticization, but quietly reveals the power structure. Kiki’s Constellation projects animals into the cosmic order, so that the unknown can be understood and the myth becomes a system of organizational meaning. Dragon, Zodiac and Constellation echo each other at different levels, reminding people that myth is never a simple symbol, but an operating force.
The light and shadow treatment of the exhibition is impressive. Black shading cloth, local spotlights and dark space make the viewer wrapped in an intimate and solemn atmosphere. Compared with the last bright exhibition “Our Children”, the dark space here makes the themes of death, forgetting and memory more direct to the soul. This also reminds me that the black box is not only a projection space, but also a curatorial means-through fine-tuning of light, materials and sight, the atmosphere can be constructed without relying on expensive architectural renovation.
Music and poetry echo in a low voice in space, and non-verbal singing, symbols and metaphors are intertwined, making the power of myth more ceremonial. In the shadow puppet workshop and the “rewriting myth” session, the audience becomes a part of the story in the process of touching, making and writing, and the myth is no longer lofty, but a mobile and participatory experience.
The title of the exhibition is also worth pondering. “Tyger Tyger, Burning Bright”-Blake’s tiger is not only an animal image, but also a symbol of strength, creativity and potential violent structure. It echoes the dragon, zodiac and constellation in different contexts of family, country and universe: myth is constantly reproduced, continuing the power structure between awe and anxiety. The burning light of the tiger is like a metaphor, reminding people that myth is not only creating meaning, but also reshaping cognition.
