When you begin to read the stories of picture books without words, the question mark now hovering over your head will become an exclamation mark of amazement.
This week I visited this exhibition Wonder: Wordless Picture Books - in Sydney with two friends and we all agreed this is one of VERY BEST picture book exhibitions we have ever attended. One friend commented "The curator has done a superb job ... (the author of the commentary) is a real wordsmith."
The exhibition features books, original illustrations, preliminary sketches, drawings, artists’ video and ephemera from 7 Korean artists; Nahye, Hyungshik Nam, Inkyung Noh, Barim, Gihun Lee, Sumi Lee and JiHyeon Lee.
Why was this exhibition so special?
- Lots of space to move around allowing you to stand back and then move in closer to view the art
- Generous examples of art from the featured books by the seven Korean illustrators
- A shelf under every illustrator profile with a collection of the books to read
- An activity table for young children
- A small library shelf area with all the books from the exhibition and many more Korean picture books along with comfy seating for children and parents
- Intriguing wordless or as we call them in IBBY Silent books for all ages from very young children through to adults - we found ourselves exclaiming over so many of them
- We puzzled over the images of whales in so many of the books (see the whale from Pool below)
- A table display of artist materials and techniques (it was difficult not to touch this display)
- A very informative and huge video display where the seven artists discuss their work
- Places to sit and read and read and read - make sure you peel back any dust jackets to reveal the surprises often found underneath
This description of the exhibition and the way wordless books work is so beautifully expressed:
We feel disconcerted when we open a book without words. And then we wonder, what does this book want to tell us? Instead of ‘reading words’ as we are accustomed to, we concentrate on paying attention to the pictures and ‘reading the story of pictures.’ Picture book artists create a story from pictures, which is complete when the people who read it add to the story with their imagination.
The artists who create picture books without words meticulously consider and plan each picture’s colour, composition, page layout and pagination to build this visual literacy. They also use the synergy that often occurs with the juxtaposition of multiple images.
These seven Korean picture book artists are renowned in Korea and around the world for their diverse techniques, compositions and unique subjects. With their works, we are drawn into a variety of different stories.
Her books are Pool; Door; A Strange House; and Last Island
Read more about Pool here. And see inside the book here.
Whale from Pool
Book: Find "One day a child unexpectedly turns into a bear ... "
Book: Running
Book: The Breath
Book: Swish, Tap Tap Boom!
Books: The Egg; The Tin Bear; and 09.47
Book: In the Museum
My favourite books (so far - I am going back next week) were The Breath, A Strange House and Pool. I will add more photos to this post after my next visit. IBBY focus on wordless books which they call Silent Books - read more here. I do hope many of the books from this selection have been submitted to IBBY for the Lampedusa collections. Korean illustrator Suzy Lee won the Hans Christian Andersen award in 2022, her work is not part of this exhibition but a number of her wordless or silent books have been included by IBBY in their Silent Book collections.
If you visit this exhibition in Sydney you could also call into the State Library of NSW to see their illustration exhbition - Imagine.
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