New Myth

In Cannupa Hanska Luger’s video work, New Myth (2021), we witness two warriors traverse the desert, fighting for survival against unnamed and unseen monsters representing societal ills, such as environmental destruction. Luger invites us to consider how we choose to dream of our collective future while challenging us to imagine a vibrant post-capitalist, post-colonial experience where humans restore their bonds with the earth and each other. New Myth was filmed on location in the gypsum dunes of White Sands National Park in New Mexico, USA. Approximately 12,000 years ago, this landscape featured lakes, streams and grasslands, and over millennia, rain and snowmelt dissolved gypsum from the surrounding mountains. Cycles of warming climate and drying caused the bodies of water to evaporate, and strong winds broke up the gypsum crystals to produce the sand found there today. The formation of this site can be seen as a metaphor for growing expanses of arid lands in the not-so-distant future, yet it also shows resilience and nature's enduring ability to support life.