"A mother is like a painting". Maternity figures in picture books between symbol and reality

Abstract

Since ancient times, the representation of motherhood has never been neutral, but has communicated a variety of meanings in relation to the evolution of the role of women over time and in different social and cultural contexts. These meanings also depend on more markedly biological aspects linked to the body, through which an imaginary of the maternal is configured, transited by metaphors, fantasies, and emotional investments of extraordinary symbolic importance. This contribution intends to observe the figures of maternity in picture books in an attempt to synthesize, from the best contemporary children’s literature, an interpretation of maternity and the maternal body that goes beyond preconceived ideas. In particular, we will look at the iconography of pregnancy with the intention of discerning and enhancing, where possible, paths and perspectives of female subjectivity in the cultural, relational and emotional adventure of becoming a mother.