Emotions in Jimmy Liao’s Picturebook: A Case Study of Pictorial Metaphors

Abstract

Pictorial and visual metaphors have been the subject of much conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) research since the 1990s, and possibly prior to that time. The graphic metaphor constitutes one category of multimodal metaphor, and hence suggests and requires an understanding of abstract concepts in visual information (Forceville 1996). A picturebook, for example, is a visual genre containing various such pictorial metaphors. It is generally acknowledged that picturebooks have narrative value, and convey emotions, while stimulating the reader’s intellectual and aesthetic affordances. These semiotic repertoires also contribute to health. As many people experienced solitude in the COVID pandemic, such semiotic banks provided a service. This research examines the pictorial metaphors in ‘Beautiful Solitude,’ painted by the Chinese picturebook artist, Jimmy Liao, following his survival from leukaemia. The study employs Kovecses's three-stage emotional metaphor framework; emotional motives, emotional existence, and emotional expression. The study observes the visual design grammar of the paintings as a theoretical framework to analyse these pictorial metaphors of emotion. The results of the study include the impact that these visual metaphors have on the portrayal and treatment of mental health. This study contributes to work on pictorial metaphors, and thus suggests ways in which individuals envisage self, other, and the world, when in pain and at times when they sense themselves as isolated from their surroundings and communities.