Pictorial Memory – Manners of the Individual Identity Construction

Abstract

The title of this study directly refers to the importance of the images, meaning material objects, personal memories or literal images – photographs one elects from the past in order to build up the individual identity and present it to others. Long ago, during the antique age, techniques of the remembrance by using pictorial memory and sequencing images from the past had been created, and those just developed during centuries. The goal of this paper is to stress that, basic concepts of the self representation did not change, but just used different media through time. In the first part of the paper, the difference between terms memory and remembrance, their relation to the culture and reasons why one remembers something will be discussed. As it is tended to be shown, the remembrance is always “pictorial”, one always puts elected images of the past in the exact order and creates its own identity. Therefore, in the second part of this study, the idea of individual identity, creation of it and the representation of the self identity to the others will be examined and explained in the context of the pictorial memory and heritage on the one hand, and social determination on the other. Inspired by the wholes one leaves in its personal life story when presenting it to others, the need of forgetting as constituent part of memory will also be stressed. Finally, the last part of this study points out that we still use the same concepts of remembering, electing and presenting images from the past in the creation of the image of ourselves, using the most popular media today - virtual space.