The Human Dream : Carving a History of Myth

By: Jack Wikse

The Human Dream: Carving a History of Myth is a collaborative effort between photographer Grace Cheung-Schulman and sculptor Jack Wikse. It presents a history of myth through fifteen bas-relief narrative sculptures carved by drawing out elemental forms residing within each stone. Collectively, the stones uncover a set of mythic stories that stretch across many eras and many cultures. Beginning with the myth of Apeiron ("Before the Beginning") from ancient Greece, The Human Dream depicts the transition from the earth and humanity as a living organism ("The Pelasgian Creation Myth") to the rise of a moral universe ("The Oroboros and the Garden of Good and Evil"). Carvings encompass the Christian mythos, the Iroquois myth of Seven Generations, the story of evolution ("Up From the Mud"), and the Hermetic alchemical fire ("Hermes"), concluding with a vision of the integration of Christian and Buddhist meanings ("The Oxford Prophet"). Wikse's narrative reflects on the experience of carving as a dialogue with the stone, expressing an aesthetic of minimal incursion, and of meaning as embedded in nature. This is given form through the eye of a gifted photographer, bringing together both text and visual images.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 096007970X
• ISBN13: 9780960079704
• Release Date: February 2019
• Publisher: Cheung Schulman Photography
• Length: 74 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.0" x 10.0"