Archetapestry X: Imago

Where memory becomes myth.

Inside the architecture of the self, the inner child sleeps—

preserved, dreaming, waiting.

A work shaped by Jungian archetypes,

by the stories we inherit,

and the ones we bury.

The womb-skull is a vessel for both memory and transformation, where the Imago, forged from childhood experience, is also deeply intertwined with the archetypal Self This is where we begin the journey of healing and psychological integration.

IMAGO

Jung broadly described the Imago as a representation an internalized psychic image—often of a significant figure, that emerges from early childhood experiences which becomes a formative force in an individual’s psychological development.

Jung expanded on Freud’s concept of the imago and viewed it as a symbolic structure rooted not only in personal memory but also in the collective unconscious.

“The Imago,” Jung wrote, “is built up essentially out of childhood experiences with the parents; it is a typical image, in the sense that it is an accumulation of parental impressions” (The Practice of Psychotherapy, CW 16).

This archetypal figure is not a literal memory but rather a condensed, emotionally charged constellation or template, that continues to shape one’s perception of self and others, triggers, behaviours, etc. It becomes the psychic lens through which relationships are filtered, especially those involving authority, intimacy, and nurturing. In Jung’s view, unresolved complexes and unmet developmental needs are often carried forward in the form of these Imagoes, distorting present interactions and projecting unintegrated aspects of the psyche onto others.

In this work, the juxtaposition of the skeletal torso – the ego stripped bare, the raw architecture of the self with the foetal figure curled within the cranial-womb, speaks to the psychic imprint of childhood: the inner child preserved, entombed, or gestating within the adult psyche. The foetal presence suggests both regression and the potential for rebirth through the confrontation and integration of early psychic impressions. Jung believed that these Imagoes encompass both the pain of unmet childhood needs and the key to individuation, writing:

“To confront a person with his shadow is to show him his own light.” – Carl Jung