Beyond Semiotic Representation: A Study of Emotion in Ukrainian Children’s Paintings

Abstract

As part of the Ukrainian children support project, the platform Mom, I See Warpresents, on its official website and social media, more than 4,000 drawings by children from war‐affected areas (mainly Ukraine). Based on the artworks on this platform, this article delves deeper than mere symbolic interpretations and explores the various categories of emotional expression in these children’s drawings. Through a close reading of different elements (symbols, colours, structures) within the drawings, the study is carried out within the theoretical framework of emotion and political and cultural study. While each painting contains a complex combination ofvariouspersonalemotions,thearticlemakesageneraloutlineofallthepaintingsasawholeandanalysesthe various possibilities of emotional expression among the group. In response to war conditions, four categories of emotional expression are presented: fear, pain, anger, and hope.