Lived spaces in Croatian picturebooks: public and private places and the sense of belonging

Abstract

The paper presents a study of the visual discourses of Croatian picturebooks in the period 1945–2010. It focuses on realistically depicted places and explores how their representation changes during a period of 65 years. A comparative content analysis focuses on visual representations of home, school, street and other spaces, the way they are presented as a child’s space of belonging and how they are informed with specific meanings. The aim of the study is to establish the image of child inscribed in the representations of lived spaces during the observed period and to reveal how the child’s role changes in relationship with the society. A diachronic analysis reveals a general shift in focus from outside towards inside spaces and from public towards private places. This is explained through changes in the ideological and political contexts in different periods of Croatian history and interpreted as a shift from collectivism as a dominant social value after WWII, towards re-establishing family values and individual identity. In the process, open didacticism gives way to an acknowledgment of the child’s individual, cultural and literary needs.