Instead of protagonists seeking their hearts’ desires in the face of antagonists’ meddling, we ponder a minute thought, feeling, setting, or technical detail.
And the medium of a picture book makes this especially gratifying because you have elaborate, whimsical illustrations to pair it with. Where else do you see that in art and literature? Comics have a lot of content packed into small cells. Novels depend on the inner visualizations of the reader. Animations whizz by, not allowing much time to pour over each image and sound in unison. Usually, paintings have only a short artist statement by their side. Meanwhile, conceptual picture books are leisurely and in-depth.
This playful pairing was on display in Italy between March 6th and 9th, 2023 with the exhibition of illustrations for Liis Kiviranna and Pamela Samel’s book Toru (Tube) at the 2023 Bologna Children's Book Fair. As mentioned before in Eesti Elu, this fair is one of the most prestigious places a book creator can feature their work.
