Infantile Amnesia"
Ink on natural dyed Fabriano paper.
- Infantile amnesia: the inability of adults to recollect early episodic memories, is associated with the rapid forgetting that occurs in childhood.
A portrait of Federico at 4 years old. Inspired to finished this old drawing after Federico reunited with my parents after 3 years apart and he couldn't remember them at all, despite our constant efforts to see each other virtually.
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He sniffs the flower of maturity
And memories from when he first emerged into this world
drift into oblivion
the sweet scent of mother's milk
the clumsy embrace of father
joyful tears and laughters of grandparents
all fossilized under the pressure of time
his distant past now a buried amber.
the warmth of the womb, his holiest shrine
the voyage through the narrow strait
the first gasp of air at life's gate
all faded away under the blinding light
the innocence, the pureness
locked away in a hidden chamber
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Sometime I wonder, if by a miracle, these memories were to stay with us always, could we have been a bit more graceful to each other?
if one can remember the extraordinary pain and glory of birth
one will not have the heart to kill...
Federico