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

Pictorial and visual metaphors have been the subject of much conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) research since the 1990s, and possibly prior to this time. The graphic metaphor constitute one category of multimodal metaphor, and hence one that suggests and requires an understanding of abstract concepts in visual information (Forceville 1996). A picturebook, for example, is a distinct type of visual genre containing various such pictorial metaphors. It is also generally acknowledged that picturebooks have narrative value, and convey emotions, while also stimulating the development of intellectual and aesthetic affordances. Similarly, these semiotic repertoires also contribute to the mental capacities of people, not least of which is their health. As many people undergo loneliness and solitude in the spreading of the current pandemic, such semiotic banks provide such a service. This research examines the pictorial metaphors in Beautiful Solitude, painted by the Chinese picturebook artist, Jimmy Liao, following his survival from leukemia. The study employs Kovecses's three-stage emotional metaphor frame; 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 when they sense themselves as isolated from their surroundings and communities.