Shaun Tan

Tan uses an absence of symbols and objects with particular meaning in order to avoid miscommunicating ideas, such as the use of a red flag instead of a union jack in the following image from The Rabbits, a book by John Marsden and illustrated by Shaun Tan.

“I try to remove references, or at least muddle them a bit or make them more obscure so there’s more space for the reader to interpret things freely” - [1]

The union jack already holds a history and context in which would lead the reader onto other thoughts, ones that aren’t important in the telling of the story and scene.

‘The Rabbits’ is based on the settlement of the Europeans in Australia, but to avoid using the Union jack makes the story applicable to any new settlement and colonisation, not just the British on Australian soil.

 “As an artist illustrating a text, I’m always trying to question any assumptions I might have a reader. For instance, in adapting John Marsden’s written allegory of colonisation, ‘The Rabbits’ as a picture book, I was careful to avoid actual rabbits. To do so would only defuse the essential metaphor of the story.”[2] Tan has used stylised, sharp and geometric rabbits, far from the fluffy bunnies children adore. These rabbits are the ‘invaders’, so their crisp suits and sharp edges give a menacing tone.  They’re depicted from the ‘natives’ point of view, digging up the land and introducing strange machines. The front cover mimics a nineteenth-century painting by E. Phillips Fox depicting the arrival of European settlement. [3]

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[1] statelibraryvictoria. ( 2011). Shaun Tan: Do you encourage open interpretation of your work?. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cb37WdbBgk&feature=youtube_gdata_player. Last accessed oct 14.

[2] Radio National ABC,Lingua Franca. (2010). Words and Pictures, an Intimate Distance. Available: http://www.shauntan.net/comments1.html. Last accessed oct 14.

[3] Brooke Collins-Gearing & Dianne Osland. (2010). Who will save us from the rabbits?: rewriting the past allegorically. Available: http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/ojs/index.php/tlg/article/view/227/225. Last accessed oct 14.