Onde mora a saudade: uma travessia ilustrada sobre a morte para a infância

Abstract

This work investigates how children’s illustration can serve as a bridge for dialogue about death, aiming to analyze visual resources—such as color, metaphors, and composition—that engage with children’s perception of finitude and contribute to the understanding of grief in childhood. The research also proposes the creation of an illustrated book entitled Meri, conceived through a sensitive approach that employs the visual elements studied. For the development of this creative process, I conducted qualitative research grounded in a bibliographic review of children’s books, with particular attention to two titles that have accompanied me since childhood, in addition to the analysis of four illustrated works addressing the theme of death, articulating this material with the perspective of artistic creation. Based on these studies, I identified that choices of color, visual metaphors, and narrative compositions can assist in the emotional elaboration of grief in children, allowing visual narrative to become a space of support and to foster the understanding of absence. In accordance with the requirements of the Visual Arts Bachelor’s Degree, I produced the authorial work Meri, The Little Guardian of the Forest, using mixed media techniques of watercolor, colored pencil, and digital art, creating both text and images that prioritize symbolic and affective dimensions. I consider that this research expands the repertoire of references on the theme of death within the field of visual arts, and that the book Meri, The Little Guardian of the Forest, as the outcome of this process, can serve as a resource for visual mediation aimed at children.