Art Rabbithole

Walker Percy once said, “The unconscious is that which we know, or have experienced, but for which we do not have a name.” As an artist, I see this every day. So much of what shapes us—our fears, intuitions, longings, and memories—lives in that unnamed space. Images help us reach into that world. They hold meaning long before we can put it into words.

Images are not just there. They do something to us. They help us understand ourselves, but they can also challenge or unsettle us. An image might comfort or unsettle us. It can help us heal or remind us of old pain. Sometimes, it reveals a truth we have avoided for a long time.

This is why, throughout human history, people have respected, feared, or even seen images as magical. Ancient cultures thought a painted animal held its spirit. In the Middle Ages, people saw icons as doorways. Even today, in our so-called rational world, we react strongly to images in propaganda, photos, movies, social media, and ads. We might not call it magic now, but the effect is similar. Images skip our logical thinking and go straight into our memories. A childhood window, a loved one’s face, a landscape, or a painting—our mind does not just record it. It absorbs it. Over time, these visual experiences settle into our interior world, shaping how we feel, think, and react. An image becomes a memory, and a memory becomes part of the unconscious. Long after the image is gone, its meaning continues to work on us, quietly and invisibly.

As an artist, I often feel that painting lets me talk to the hidden world inside myself. Sometimes a colour shows up before I know the reason. Sometimes a shape wants to be painted, even if I don’t know where it comes from. Sometimes a composition just feels right, as if it came from a forgotten memory. These moments remind me that our unconscious holds everything we have lived, even if we have not fully understood it.

Making art gives shape to things we could not name before.

What is amazing is that when someone looks at a painting, they bring their own memories to meet mine. For a moment, our inner worlds touch. That is where real connection happens—not through technique or theory, but through a shared experience we cannot fully explain.

That is why images matter.

That is why they stay with us.

And this is why, even now, images still have their old power. They speak to our souls before we can put their meaning into words.