Metaphors do more than reflect how we perceive the world—they actively shape that perception. This shaping is intimately tied to how we remember. As Benedict Anderson notes, “Our memories are often, or perhaps always, metaphors: we have a particular picture in our minds of a house in our childhood which stands for many years of experience of family life; we sum up the dead in certain intense images from the past” (Anderson, 1996).

What, then, are memories if not shadows—fragmented silhouettes of moments, people, and feelings that once were? They are impressions, sometimes distorted, sometimes vivid, but always emotional. Like shadows, they shift in size and clarity depending on the light we cast upon them.

This project proposes the creation of a nursery book for adults—a poetic, visual exploration of memory, metaphor, and the lingering emotions of the past. Using the gentle, symbolic language of children’s storytelling, the book will engage with complex themes such as nostalgia, loss, fear, joy, and personal identity.

Illustrated with soft, dreamlike visuals and written in lyrical prose, Shadows of Memory aims to reawaken the reader’s inner child while offering space for reflection, comfort, and perhaps healing.

It’s not a book to be read once, but to be revisited—like a memory you carry with you.