John Thole’s works explore themes concerning the body, mythology and its roles and functions as they are reshaped through the narratives and mediums of society and culture.
Myths confirm some form of truth about how the world is or how we wish it to be. The structural patterns of myths generate spaces for improvisation around the elements of truth they contain. These spaces provide Thole to work with the subject matter to create new associations, figures, narratives, settings and motifs.
In combining this approach with collage his works become reflective of myths retelling through mediums such as cinema, sound, subcultures, texts and educational materials. This results in figures and motifs taking on their own agency while hinting at broader histories and narratives.
Thole’s practice is to function like a myth, to inhabit the body of a 'monster', a growing organism, continuously reshaping, stimulating and contemplating the world around us.