Anamnesis in classical philosophy is the act of significant remembering; it does not simply refer to the past, but its resonance within the present. Anamnesis, and its antithesis (historical amnesia), are central to the work of Amalea Manifis. Her work is an active reconstruction of the past from the fragmentary remains of an original trace. Amalea focuses on her own ancestors history, particularly the genocide in Smyrna in 1922. Without the individual and collective memory, narratives between generations can be silenced, barred from entering the field of history.