Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21066/carcl.libri.13.2.8
Unpacking Nostalgia: Suitcases as Symbols of Nostalgia in Picturebooks about Refugees
Chryssa Kouraki
orcid.org/0009-0009-2819-3493
; National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Abstract
Nostalgia in picturebooks about refugees relies on aesthetics to create a nostalgic mood through verbal and visual text. Aesthetic strategies include imagery, symbols, metaphors, recurring motifs, and iconisation. The suitcase, as an emblematic symbol of the refugee, plays a crucial role. Depicted in an old-fashioned, classic form, it becomes synonymous with the self-enclosed miniature of a life. The object-souvenirs it contains, such as sepia-toned photos, distressed domestic items, and symbols of a homeland like a bottle of soil, are transformed into “biographical” objects from a life left behind. When these items are placed in a suitcase, they form a collection that reframes their context. The nostalgic mood in picturebooks is evoked
through various aesthetic strategies, including dichotomies, black-and-white photographs, rhythmic text, pictorial gaps, and symbolic transformations. These elements collectively turn suitcases into potent symbols of refugee nostalgia.
Keywords
aesthetics of nostalgia; suitcases; picturebooks; refugees;
Hrčak ID:
328031
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2024.
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