Sanatta Kişisel Benlik ve Hafıza Katmanları

Abstract

The acts of remembering and the reconstruction of these acts are constitutive processes that sustain the continuity of the self over time. The idea of being an individual has, since ancient times, taken different forms as an attempt to define and make sense of one’s own existence. In this context, art provides a field of inquiry through which the construction of identity and the search for meaning can be examined. By turning inward and confronting their sense of self through their connection with the personal, artists have incorporated their inner experiences into their artistic practices. This process, which may be described as a desire for self-definition, has emerged as a field in which artists question the boundaries between privacy and visibility by bringing their inner worlds into the external sphere, while also addressing the process of “becoming an individual” through autobiographical works. In this context, personal memory can be considered one of the fundamental layers that contribute to the formation and continuity of the self. The incorporation of past experiences, relationships, places, and images into one’s present sense of self through their transformation over time demonstrates that memory is not merely a repository of the past. Art, in turn, creates a space in which this dynamic and layered structure can be made visible, allowing individuals to encounter their past experiences anew. The artist’s turn toward personal memory is not merely an attempt to reproduce the past; rather, it becomes a process of investigating the formation of the self through remembered, forgotten, and transformed experiences. In this respect, autobiographical art can be understood as a field in which traces of personal experience are revisited through art, and the relationships between past and present, remembering and reconstruction are questioned. Memory is a dynamic structure that sustains the continuity of the self, while art constitutes a field of inquiry in which this structure gains visibility through material, space, and the body.