The Housing of Memory

The Housing of Memory

2003, Oil on Canvas 100 x 150 cm

Artist Statement 2003

A schema is defined as an enduring theme or pattern of images, thoughts, memories and sensations about the self and others that typically develops in childhood. Schemas are very difficult to re-evaluate or change.

One hypothesis for why this may be so is that language does not develop until at least two years of age. It has been suggested that memories cannot verbally be recalled prior to the age of two because the context in which they were encoded generally excludes language. Access to these pre-verbal memories may therefore require the reinstatement of modalities other than language such as the visual mode.