This sculpture draws inspiration from the concept of Collective Unconscious, a term coined by Carl Jung, referring to the innate mental concepts, instincts, patterns and archetypes, inherited from our ancestral experience and shared by humanity as a whole. This layer of the psyche can resurface in the conscious mind through certain symbols and archetypes in our dreams.
The figures of petroglyphs in Central Asia resonate with my own cultural background, which I explored in order to establish a stronger connection to my ancestral histories. To quote excerpts from Ancient Myths and Modern Man by Joseph L. Henderson in the book Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung that further elaborate on this idea:
‘As archaeologists dig deep into the past, it is not the events of historical time that we learn to treasure but the statues, ancient drawings, temples, and languages that tell of old beliefs…The analogies between ancient myths and the stories that appear in the dreams of modern man are neither trivial nor accidental. They exist because the unconscious mind preserves the symbol-making capacity that once found expression in the beliefs and rituals of the primitive. And that capacity still plays a role of vital psychic importance. In more ways that we realise, we are dependent on the messages that are carried by such symbols, and both our attitudes and behaviour are profoundly influenced by them.’
