Dreams of a cicada, waking in the summers heat - ANCA Gallery

1st October - 26th October 2026

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ANCA Gallery

1 Rosevear Place
Dickson ACT 2602

Part play, part storytelling, part dreamscape, “Dreams of a cicada, waking in the Sumer heat” provides a loose retelling of Shakespeares Midsummers Nights Dream, a tale of the irrationality of love and desire, the fine balance of the order and chaos of nature, and the blurring of dreams and reality. The work is also heavily influenced by The Story of Stone (Dream of the Red Chamber 1763) and other folk tales.

Image: Jason Phu, ‘The Song (Is the story what is lived, or how the tale lives to be told?), The faun playing its flute carved from a hollowed dried gourd plucked from a wedding feast long ago, under the white blossom of a manchurian pear tree…’, 2026, acrylic on polycotton, 213 x 198 cm © the artist, photo © Garry Trinh

Artworks

The Marriage Parade (where our two protagonist catch a glimpse of one another), The fleeting happiness that is a whole life time, a blip to a dying sun, an eternity to a fruit fly

The Song (Is the story what is lived, or how the tale lives to be told?), The faun playing its flute carved from a hollowed dried gourd plucked from a wedding feast long ago, under the white blossom of a manchurian pear tree…

The Trickery, Gentle Giant of the Green Pastures, Lord of the Army of Oaks, Blossoms and Eucalypts, Eater of Axemen, Friends of the Birds, the Bees and the Butterflies

The Beginning, The Shadow Encounters the Fire or perhaps you could say The Feeling of When I First Met You

The Punishment, The Lord of the Dirt and the Keeper of the Rain

[Snake] The History (of which without, we are not defined), The Great War between the House of the Ox and the House of the Snake

[Ox] The History (of which without, we are not defined), The Great War between the House of the Ox and the House of the Snake

Dreams of a cicada, waking in the summers heat - ANCA Gallery

Artworks

Installations