Exploring Unseen Violence in the Picture Books of Jeannie Baker

Abstract

This article presents an ecocritical reading of two textless picture books, also considered silent books or wordless books and one picture book. In the close reading of Belonging, Window, and The Hidden Forest by Jeannie Baker, an Australian visual artist and filmmaker, the article turns to theories about the act of witnessing to interrogate its relation to the acts of reading and writing. Moving from the literary to the visual, witnessing theories in literature places the human subject in a position of responsibility. In other words, by just seeing, a person acknowledges the loss or exploitation they witness and their role as agents. Regarding the ecological catastrophes and climate crises, witnessing the changes in the environment due to urban sprawl, heavy industrialization, and human-related exploitations spreads over time and space, making it difficult to realize the extent of the loss. Jeannie Baker’s books introduce the concept of subjectivity into the discussion, as changes in the environment occur because of human actions, making it necessary to reconsider one’s relation to the environment and the subjectivities of the nonhuman as well. In the two textless books, Belonging and Window, the change the reader witnesses on the double-page spreads happens very slowly and subtly. The human subject who has already lost connection with nature and is unaware of the human impact on the environment encounters their destructive humanity in The Hidden Forest. Baker’s drawings and collages place the reader in the subject position, making it necessary to think of oneself as the fictional character through the act of witnessing.

Keywords

• Witnessing
• subjectivity
• responsibility
• textless books

Jeannie Baker’ın Resim Kitaplarında Görülmeyen Şiddetin İzini Sürmek

Abstract

Bu makale sessiz kitap ya da yazısız kitap olarak da tanımlanan iki metinsiz resimli kitap ve bir resimli kitabın ekoeleştirel bir analizini sunmaktadır. Avusturalyalı görsel sanatçı ve film yapımcısı Jeannie Baker’ın Window, Belonging ve The Hidden Forest isimli kitaplarının yakın okumasının yapıldığı makalede tanık olma teorileri ve bu eylemin yazma ve okuma pratikleriyle ilişkisi irdelenmektedir. Metinden görsele geçilen noktada tanık olma teorileri insan özneyi sorumlu koltuğuna oturtur. Bir başka deyişle, birey sadece görerek tanık olduğu kaybı ya da tahribatı ve bunlardaki eyleyen olarak rolünü kabullenir. Çevresel felaketler ve iklim krizi bağlamında, hızlı şehirleşme, sanayileşme ve insan kaynaklı çevresel sömürü mekâna ve zamana yayılarak kaybın büyüklüğünü anlamayı zorlaştırır. Doğal çevredeki değişimler insan eliyle gerçekleştiğinden ve bu durum bireyin çevreyle olan ilişkisini ve diğer varlıkların özneliğini düşünmeyi gerekli kıldığından Baker’ın kitapları özne kavramını ve özne pozisyonunu tartışmaya açar. Belonging ve Window kitaplarında resmedilen değişim yavaşça ve fark edilmeden olur. Hidden Forest kitabında ise çevreyle ilişkisini zaten kaybetmiş bireyin kendi yıkıcı doğasıyla yüzleşmesi anlatılır. Baker’ın çizimleri ve kolajları okuru da özne pozisyonuna oturtur ve tanık olma eylemi üzerinden kendini kurgusal karakterle özdeşleştirmesi beklenilir.

Keywords

• Tanık olma
• özne
• sorumluluk
• sessiz kitaplar

References

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