Dialectics of the Forgotten Self examines the internal tension between the spontaneous authenticity of the child and the curated composure of the adult. The chalkboard surface becomes a site of memory and instruction—a space where creativity once flowed unfiltered, now marred by the imposed form of adulthood. The childlike marks—erratic, energetic, free—represent the intuitive self that resists erasure. At the same time, the scratched black rectangle bisects the field as an intrusive order, a symbol of learned restraint, logic, and discipline.

This piece explores not nostalgia but conflict. It stages the unresolved dialogue between who we once were and who we are asked to become. The dialectic lies in the friction: the free mark versus the imposed line, the expressive gesture versus the structure interrupting it. In doing so, it asks the viewer to reflect on their evolution—how much of the self has been forgotten and how much remains, quietly resisting containment.