History is but a construct; very little is actually known outside the chosen slice of the analytic knife that historians probe with into the past. Borders, societies and individual identities often become fragmented as a result.

The orally derived traditions of myth are one response at reconstructing lost identity. Embodying cultural values, it captures a meaningful and important reality about a people.

What of our collective identity? What patterns of movement, if any, are evident in the stories we tell ourselves? Can the culturally-binding effects of myth be applied here in Canada, much as the classical poetry helped unify ancient Greece and Rome? And how is this "myth-making" to find its architectural expression?

I awoke mid slumber/ mid episode of Odysseus’ epic journey over the wine-dark sea...

I relate with the main character of Homer’s Odyssey, whose best-laid plans were subject to the whims of the gods. These unforeseen interventions however often gave rise to epic adventures: bedding exotic goddesses, fighting strange monsters and even journeying to Hades and back unscathed.

As a hero he represented a new type;

the warrior tempered by cunning... Unlike Achilles and Agamemnon before him whose heroic code included an early, bloody death, Odysseus died aged, prosperous and surrounded by loved ones.

I too have lead a dotted life: thirty-six jobs, overlapping careers, numerous residences and fiery intimacies...I’ve tasted paradise broken-hearted and spilt the finest wine. The middle fades away.

These experiences have been imprinted on my psyche and have usually resulted from a good wander cross-continent.

ODYSSEAN VESSEL

mdf, canvas, acetate  ©1999 Luke Andritsos

imagine this infinite stair blowing across foothills, prairies and lakes. Site-less, once occupied the possibilities of shelter and orientation arise, the latter taking its cue from the armillary sphere of ancient times.

Its clicking and clacking whilst mobile may at times conjure images of a Trans-Canada locomotive, evoking the "last spike" allegory of this country’s founding. Its form also speaks of the native dream-catcher.

The inert cartographer’s grid is in this case folded and manipulated to simultaneously embody and slice through space and time. Experience leaves its imprint on the thing; memories linearly accumulated at various times fragment, juxtapose and resolve according to the dictates of universal laws and random chance.

The legend of this Odyssean Vessel is bound to grow once it’s free of human hands...

 landritsos@hotmail.com