Drawn primarily from the SCAD Museum of Art Permanent Collection, Myths and Legends gathers historical and contemporary artworks whose compelling stories and characters have captivated audiences across time. The featured paintings, video, and works on paper offer various interpretations of “myth,” depicting fantastical tales and widely held fallacies, as well as events and figures from the past that have been mythologized or transformed into enduring, quasi-fictional legends. Translating oral traditions’ ineffable qualities into singular images, these works serve as timestamps of cultural and generational explanations of the human experience and treasured societal values.

Myths and Legends also highlights storytelling’s frequent role in shaping or disrupting collective ideologies, from spiritual belief systems to perceptions of gender and culture. Artists such as Cindy Sherman, Claes Oldenburg, and duo Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley reimagine iconic figures from the collective imagination, including the biblical Madonna and mythological characters like Hercules and the Minotaur, to probe gender constructs and notions of sexuality, particularly ideals of feminine propriety and masculine strength. Others, such as Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Chloe West, and Marisol Escobar, reclaim the role of storyteller, interrogating how mythologies have perpetuated romanticized representations of women and Indigeneity, as exemplified by the narratives surrounding Pocahontas. These illustrations of myths and legends, while encompassing a degree of estrangement from reality, ironically expose an undeniable truth: our shared endeavor to make sense of this unpredictable world.