POSTMEMORY

2025

“In her early work, Hámori drew inspiration from motifs in her personal environment; over the past decade, however, her focus has shifted toward political and wartime events selected from the global media landscape. The sterile, floating figures and objects do not depict events in a narrative sense but function as visual
fragments that follow the logic of the flow of mediated imagery. She associates these visual fragments with her own experiences, particularly childhood memories of first encountering images of war, creating complex pictorial structures that operate simultaneously as collective memory and personal reflection. The minimalist,
often white backgrounds reinforce the sense of an ongoing visual stream, while visually signaling the contextual rupture between images and events.

This approach positions the viewer not merely as a passive observer but as an active participant in a process of visual processing, as described by Marianne Hirsch’s concept of postmemory: a form of secondary memory that operates indirectly yet profoundly in shaping individual identity, particularly in cases where personal experience and historical trauma are not directly accessible (Hirsch, 2008). In Hámori’s watercolors, the convergence of personal and collective dimensions enables viewers to reflect upon their own visual memory and recognize the influence of mediated images on collective consciousness.

Hámori’s art is therefore relevant not only to the study of personal remembrance but also to the representation of contemporary trauma and the investigation of visual memory. Her works contribute to a discourse that aims not merely at depiction, but also at rethinking historical knowledge and critically examining the visual culture. The interweaving of personal and collective experiences, as well as real and mediated images, in Hámori’s practice creates an intermedial space where viewers are actively engaged and given the opportunity to become aware of their own visual memory and historical sensibility.”

Rita Somosi