ABSTRACT
Borders and boundaries are of great signifi cance in our lives. Our bodies establish our physical domain, tethering us to this world in space and in time and marking the edges of our being. Our minds replicate these boundaries: psychology studies the division of self from not self, and self from “other”; sociology and anthropology note the way we structure our communities and divide ourselves into “us” and “them”; political science looks at the lines we draw to balance and control power and to create borders around our nations. And philosophy, ethics, and religion help us set the boundaries between right and wrong, sacred and profane, the saved and the damned. So, in our art, the borders we draw are invested with far more than aesthetic judgment. They become “the ordered application of a certain belief system” (Steele 6) “packed with contextual and historical meaning, inspirational [and] confusing” (28). Thus, exploring the purposes and effects of framing in picturebooks involves not only consideration of the aesthetic aspects and graphic design or graphicnarrative metafi ctive devices as literary constructs. We must also delve into social commentary and psychological states of mind, and the way that framemaking and frame-breaking comment upon social and psychological boundaries and distinctions in our lives.
