Domestic Architecture and Environmental Design in Australian Picture Books

What is it about?

Domestic and landscape architecture in Australian picturebooks are notable in two main aspects, heritage and horizontality. Heritage affirms the persistence of the material past in the present and its status as a bearer of values that continue from the past, albeit selectively. Representations of older house styles also entail a distinctive feature of visual narrative in that characters move horizontally in domestic spaces which flow easily between inside and outside.

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Why is it important?

While the lives of children had become more circumscribed by the end of the 20th century, picture book representations of movement across domestic spaces and out into distal built environments present realms of possibility to the imagination while sustaining a strong sense of childhood well-being, thus resisting contemporary negative impacts on children's lives.