Taking cues from Joseph Campbell’s quote:

“ Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths”

 

Public Dreams, Private Myths is a group show by Cheong Yew Mun, Kar-men Cheng and Paul Hurley. As recent graduates of the same MA Fine Arts programme at LASALLE College of the Arts, the three developed their practices closely with one another. In this presentation, they reflect on their intimate knowledge of each others’ work and begin a conversation that bleeds through their respective areas of inquiry, forming new meanings within familiar ideas. 

 

Starting with the assumption that society, in its organisation and negotiation of power, justifies itself through certain persevering mythologies–– archetypal motifs that guide dominant ideas of common sense–, a cardinal concern is,  how does one break out of that one obstinate truth? Following that, how does one reckon with the alternative, and equally legitimate, narratives in a system governed by a single telling of the world? Seeking self-hood within the collective unconscious is an ironic endeavour and a  dissonant experience– after all, we are a product of  the world’s past trauma, and the world is a product of ours. Yet we try. Because perhaps  surrendering to chance and vulnerability is the  closest we can to changing reality.  In the irrational gaps of our dreams, the only truth that matters is our personal truths. 

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The show runs from 6 March to 30 March 2021.