FINALIST: Ambush Gallery (The Hero’s Journey) 2020 Art Prize

‘Axis Mundi V2.0’ is a personal mandala, mapping out key themes and experiences of 2020. The creation of mandalas have a long tradition throughout many cultures, and even in the West they have been used for self-expression, spiritual transformation and as a pathway towards self-knowledge and personal growth. Renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell, has written on the connection of mandalas to that of the Hero’s Journey. Campbell outlines the Hero’s Journey as a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through virtually all of the world’s mythic traditions. In The Power of Myth (1988) Campbell states: “In working out a mandala…you draw a circle and then think of the different impulse systems and value systems in your life…Making a mandala is a discipline for pulling all those scattered aspects of your life together, “finding a centre.” It is this connection between the outer world and inner world that most interests me, an idea I continually explore in my art making.