The exhibition draws directly on mythology, classical antiquity, symbolism and material culture, with works inspired by figures such as Demeter and Medusa. Joy BC treats these inherited stories as something that can be transformed and given new meaning through contemporary objects and personal experience. The exhibition runs from 29 September to 10 November 2026.

On how do images acquire power, meaning and emotional force. Freedberg looks at how people across different cultures and periods have responded to images, through belief, ritual, memory, fear, desire and devotion. I think it connects particularly well to the theme’s interest in how images and symbols circulate, carry inherited meanings, and are reactivated in different cultural contexts.

How can we tell stories differently? “It is the story that makes the difference.” — Ursula K. Le Guin,The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction In The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin challenges traditional narratives built around heroes, conflict and conquest, proposing instead the carrier bag as a different model for storytelling: a container that gathers people, objects, memories and experiences together. Rather than understanding stories as linear journeys towards a single heroic outcome, Le Guin imagines narrative as something collective, open and interconnected, offering a way to think about how different voices and experiences can coexist within the stories we construct. Le Guin, Ursula K., “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction”, in Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places (New York: Grove Press, 1989)

Wangechi Mutu’s installation at the 61st Venice Biennale draws on Kikuyu origin stories, ancestral cosmologies and the natural world to reimagine the Garden of Eden through an eco-feminist and African diasporic lens. Bringing together animation, kinetic works and sculptures made from Kenyan earth, branches, cow horns and other natural materials, Mutu constructs a female-centred creation mythology in which human, animal, spiritual and ecological worlds intertwine. Through figures drawn from ancestral narratives and supernatural traditions, the installation considers mythology not as something fixed in the past, but as a living language through which origins, identity and our relationship with the earth can be continually reimagined. Wangechi Mutu: The End, Where All began, EdEN 9 May - 22 November 2026 61st International Art Exhibition - In Minor Keys, La Biennale di Venezia https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2026/wangechi-mutu

Today marks the second day since the opening of Godfried Donkor’s ‘Mythologies, Proverbs and Fablesm at Gallery 1957 in London. Through painting, embroidery and installation, Donkor explores how images, symbols and histories travel across cultures and generations, bringing together African and European histories, proverbs and fables. The exhibition considers how inherited narratives are carried forward, transformed and given new meanings as they encounter different places and contexts. I think it connects particularly well with the theme Building Mythologies through its exploration of inherited memory, folklore, symbolism and cultural translation. Donkor’s work shows mythology as a living practice not just something inherited from the past, but something that can be reactivated and transformed in the present. Godfried Donkor: Mythologies, Proverbs and Fables. 30 September - 28 November 2026. Gallery 1957 1 Hyde Park Gate, London. SW7 5EW.