Welcome to the audio experience of MYTHOS: an audio-visual anthology of work by young New Zealanders. Here, you can hear the poets read their work, hear insights from the artists, and listen to the musical compositions being performed. This album is best enjoyed alongside the physical book. You can purchase it from Unity Books here: unitybookswellington.co.nz/product/mythos-an-audio-visual-anthology-of-art-by-young-new-zealanders/. Feel free to download this album for free to listen to it through your streaming service of choice, or just listen to it on the Bandcamp page or app. This project was produced as part of the Ruth and Oswald Kraus Innovator-in-Residence Scholarship at Wai-te-Ata Press.

I gave the artists the broad theme of ‘Mythos’ to encourage them to think about the various mythologies that shape our lives. As submissions rolled in, the collection began to grow into itself, cataloguing the wide variety of mythologies we take into our lives. It speaks of rituals, of deeply engrained stories, of the ‘canon events’ that develop us as people and as artists. There are a lot of similar experiences, such as the childhood nostalgia of the first section, stories of skinned knees and beach days and siblings. Other experiences are deeply unique. In particular, I noticed a focus on legacies and canons — the poems I personally wrote for this collection both reference the dusty backrooms of Western literary pasts. In Aroha Witinitara’s poem Archaeology, they sum this all up with the simple phrase, ‘I want a turn with the shovel.’ We all want to dig into pasts — cultural, personal, imagined — and get the satisfaction of uncovering the unexpected.

I hope you enjoy this experience as much as I’ve enjoyed curating it. All of the work featured is by emerging Aotearoa artists, many of them from my native Wellington. The musical performers are also all young and up-coming, mainly students. I’m constantly inspired by the art I see my peers creating and love to uplift it in any way I can. I think it’s so important to encourage our young artists, especially in this era. Feel free to listen along as you read, or perhaps you might want to experience each aspect separately. So many new meanings are created when you hear an artist perform their own work — the words lift from the page and appear, for a moment, as they may have when the Muse first visited.

CREDITS

These recordings were made by Kassandra Wang. The musical items were performed live at Lilburn Studios and St Peter's on Willis.

All poems are performed by the poets themselves.

Alice Burnett - Beach House is performed by Alice Burnett and Anna Praill. All other Alice Burnett songs are performed by the composer.

Xiaole Zhan - Creation Myth is a mock-up performed by the composer.

Cadence Chung - Mahuika as a boy
Tenor: Herbert Zielinski
Violin 1: Antonia Grant
Violin 2: Isabelle Faulkner
Viola: Fiona Quinn
Cello: Benjamin Carter
Glockenspiel: Cadence Chung

Mallory Elmo - Doxing Ur Mum
Mezzo-soprano: Kassandra Wang
Violin: Antonia Grant

Kassandra Wang - every extinguished light
Mezzo-soprano: Cadence Chung
Piano: Alex Jefferies