Exploring Childhood Memories Through Photography and Arts: A Systematic Literature Review

This systematic literature review explores the interaction of photography, childhood memories, and the arts, emphasising their significance in self-awareness, emotional healing, and personal development. Childhood memories, essential for the formation of identity and personality, can be re-evaluated through artistic practices, providing insights into prior experiences and promoting emotional healing. Photography, unlike conventional art forms, offers a distinctive combination of realism and abstraction, functioning as an effective medium for examining memory, identity, and trauma. This review integrates theoretical frameworks and research findings, highlighting the capacity of creative involvement to stimulate human inquiry and self-discovery. Prominent themes discerned in the literature are historical and cultural viewpoints on memory, the representation of invisible elements of childhood, the sensory and emotional aspects of memory recall, and the function of art in confronting childhood trauma. The work of artists like Frida Kahlo and Paul Klee illustrates the impact of formative events on artistic expression, providing deep emotional understanding. The review also identifies deficiencies in current research, specifically the insufficient examination of the incorporation of art and photography into therapy methodologies for trauma and memory. The article finishes by suggesting avenues for future research, emphasising the application of new media and sensory engagement to augment the therapeutic efficacy of photography and art in memory exploration.

photography, childhood memories, arts, trauma.

1. Arribert-Narce, F. (2023). Michaël Ferrier Inter-Media: Writing the world between image, music and text. Contemporary French and Francophone Studies, 27(5), 649–661. https://doi.org/10.1080/17409292.2023.2261313 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

2. Bate, D. (2016). Photography: The key concepts (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury Academic. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

3. Barbosa-Corredor, J. A. (2023). Stories to Wake Up: women narratives reconstructing themselves as sociohistorical subjects. HOW, 30(1), 28–42. https://doi.org/10.19183/how.30.1.644 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

4. Barthes, R. (1981). Camera lucida: Reflections on photography. Hill and Wang. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

5. Bernadac, M. (1998). Louise Bourgeois: The blind leading the blind. Flammarion. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

6. Cainelli, E., Vedovelli, L., Gregori, D., Suppiej, A., Padalino, M., Cogo, P., & Bisiacchi, P. (2022). Embrace the complexity: agnostic evaluation of children’s neuropsychological performances reveals hidden neurodevelopment patterns. Children, 9(6), 775. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9060775 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

7. Clarke, G. (2017). The photograph (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

8. Conway, M. A., & Pleydell-Pearce, C. W. (2000). The construction of autobiographical memories in the self-memory system. Psychological Review, 107(2), 261–288. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

9. Cotton, C. (2020). The photograph as contemporary art (4th ed.). Thames & Hudson. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

10. Fivush, R. (2019). Family Narratives and the Development of an Autobiographical Self: Social and cultural Perspectives on Autobiographical memory. https://www.amazon.com/Family-Narratives-Development-Autobiographical-Self/dp/1138037230 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

11. Garb, T. (1997). Christian Boltanski. Phaidon Press. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

12. Grittner, A., & Collaborative, N. S. J. L. (2021). Sensory Arts-Based Storytelling as Critical Reflection: Tales from an online graduate Social Work classroom. LEARNing Landscapes, 14(1), 125–142. https://doi.org/10.36510/learnland.v14i1.1050 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

13. Hansen, K. T., Jensen, L. S., & Smith, R. (2020). Artistic engagement and reflective self- identity. Journal of Creative Processes, 12(4), 234–248. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

14. Kallioharju, M., Wilska, T., & Vänskä, A. (2023). Mothers’ self-representations and representations of childhood on social media. Young Consumers Insight and Ideas for Responsible Marketers, 24(4), 485–499. https://doi.org/10.1108/yc-06-2022-1541 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

15. Kasey Symons & Lee McGowan (Eds.). (2022). Lyon, Gaskin & Everall writing + boxing. In TEXT Special Issue 67: Creative Writing and Sport [Journal-article]. University of Melbourne and Deakin University. https://textjournal.scholasticahq.com [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

16. Khan, K. S., & Zamora, J. (2022). Assessing the quality of the literature. In CRC Press eBooks (pp. 37–52). https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003220039-4 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

17. McAdams, D. P. (1993). The stories we live by: Personal myths and the making of the self. Guilford Press. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

18. McGinniss, D., Reeves, K., & Golding, F. (2024). Whose pain? Whose shame? Integrating heritage and histories in Ballarat, Australia. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 30(11), 1365–1378. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2024.2320319 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

19. Pells, K., Breed, A., Uwihoreye, C., Ndushabandi, E., Elliott, M., & Nzahabwanayo, S. (2021). ‘No-One Can Tell a Story Better than the One Who Lived It’: Reworking Constructions of Childhood and Trauma Through the Arts in Rwanda. Culture Medicine and Psychiatry, 46(3), 632–653. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-021-097603 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

20. Pennebaker, J. W., & Seagal, J. D. (1999). Forming a story: The health benefits of narrative. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 55(10), 1243–1254. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

21. Reshetnyak, V., Popadych, O., Korchakova, N., Shyshova, O., Shulzhenko, D., & Sichka, V. (2022). Innovations in Primary Education: Neuropsychological aspect. Brain Broad Research In Artificial Intelligence And Neuroscience, 13(1), 173–187. https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/13.1/275 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

22. Schlintl, C., Zorjan, S., & Schienle, A. (2022). Olfactory imagery as a retrieval method for autobiographical memories. Psychological Research, 87(3), 862–871. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-022-01701-y [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

23. Sela, T., & Bat-Or, M. (2023). Cutting and pasting in adults’ descriptions of experiences of secrets in childhood. International Journal of Art Therapy, 29(2), 97–108. https://doi.org/10.1080/17454832.2023.2234457 Sontag, S. (2001). On photography. Picador. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

24. Takahiro, Tsuge., Naokatsu, Yamamoto., Y., Tomita., Akikazu, Hagiyama., Daijo, Shiratsuchi., Yuichiro, Kato., Shunsuke, Taito., Takashi, Yorifuji. (2024). Reporting and methodological qualities of systematic reviews in rehabilitation journals following an update of the PRISMA 2020 statement: A cross-sectional metaepidemiological study. doi: 10.31219/osf.io/uzq7a [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

25. The Two Fridas, 1939 by Frida Kahlo. (n.d.). Frida Kahlo. https://www.fridakahlo.org/thetwo-fridas.jsp [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

26. Tinkler, P. (2020). Intimate relationships with Shirley Baker’s photos of Manchester and Salford: the mnemonic potential of documentary photos. Visual Studies, 36(4–5), 348–363. https://doi.org/10.1080/1472586x.2020.1837004 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

27. Toprak, S. (2020). Examination of Paintings of Naive Artists from Urfa in Terms of Colors, Compositions, Space and Subjects. Art-Sanat, 441–467. https://doi.org/10.26650/artsanat.2020.14.0017 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

28. Tulving, E. (1983). Elements of episodic memory. Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar] [Crossref]

29. Woycicki, P. (2021). Interoceptive dramaturgies of ‘Surrogate-selves’ in performative VR experiences. Performance Research, 26(3), 17–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/13528165.2021.1977492 [Google Scholar] [Crossref]