Memories play a significant role when forming an individual's sense of identity and understanding of past events. Even though memories are normally associated with lived personal and shared...Show moreMemories play a significant role when forming an individual's sense of identity and understanding of past events. Even though memories are normally associated with lived personal and shared collective experiences, certain memories do not fall under such categorizations. The concept of postmemory, introduced by literary scholar Marianne Hirsch, aims to describe the inheritance of memories and trauma that are not experienced by the individuals themselves. Instead, acquired through stories and images shared by the previous generations, these experiences are passed on, thus eventually becoming part of people's identities. This research focuses on addressing the extent to which the use of postmemory provides new interpretative insights regarding the depiction of memories and trauma in the works of Australian-Latvian artist Imants Tillers (1950). By basing the theoretical framework in the fields of art history and memory studies, this thesis reveals how postmemory can be recognized in Tillers' conceptual project The Book of Power (1981-present) and what are some of the interpretative possibilities this concept can offer in visual analysis. The analyses concentrate on the large-scale paintings Farewell to Reason (1996), Monaro (1998), Terra Negata (2005), and Tabula Rasa (For My Father) (2011) that provide fruitful grounds for recognizing manifestations of intergenerational and transgenerational postmemory in these artworks.Show less