Earticle

본 연구는 비잔티움 제국의 변방으로 간주되어 온 카파도키아(Cappadocia)의 석굴 성당 벽화, 특히 10세기에서 13세기에 이르는 <아스파스모스(Aspasmos, 성모의 방문)> 도상의 변천과 신학적 의미를 규명하는 데 목적이 있다. 본고는 양식사적 분류에 치중했던 기존 연구의 한계를 넘어, ‘신학적 도상학(Theological Iconography)’의 방법론을 통해 해당 도상을 미시적으로 분석하였다. 연구의 핵심이 되는 10세기 아르카익(Archaic) 시기의 도상에서 화가들은 엘리사벳이 마리아의 복부에 손을 대는 파격적인 제스처를 통해, 태중의 아기가 환영이 아닌 실재함을 확인하는 ‘촉각적 검증’을 시도하였다. 이는 당시 잔존하던 가현설(Docetism)에 맞서 육화(Incarnation)의 신비를 변증한 시각적 증언이었다. 아울러 성서 텍스트에 부재하는 시녀를 문지방의 증인으로 등장시키고 풍속화적 사실성(혹은 황실 의전의 관례)을 활용함으로써, 마리아의 방문을 사적인 조우에서 공적인 계시의 사건으로 확장시켰다. 이러한 풍요로운 서사 전통은 11세기 전례의 표준화와 기둥 교회(Column Churches) 양식의 확산으로 인해 축소되거나, 시녀가 성녀나 귀부인으로 격상되는 등의 도상적 변화를 겪었다. 그러나 13세기 이슬람(셀주크 튀르크)의 지배하에서도 지역 공동체는 이 도상을 끈질기게 소환하여 신앙의 정체성을 지켜냈다. 카파도키아의 <아스파스모스>는 수도자들의 치열한 신학적 성찰을 통해 육화의 신비를 ‘만져질 수 있는 실재’로 증언한 시각적 신학의 결정체이다. 나아가 이는 마리아의 방문을 구세주의 ‘현현(Theophany)’이자 ‘최초의 복음 선포’로 승화시킴으로써, 텍스트를 넘어서는 이미지의 참된 힘을 보여준 비잔티움 미술의 정수(精髓)라 할 수 있다.

This study examines the theological originality and diachronic transformation of the Aspasmos (The Visitation) iconography in Cappadocian rock-cut churches from the 10th to the 13th centuries. Moving beyond the perspective that regards Cappadocia merely as a periphery of the Byzantine Empire, this paper analyzes the iconography through the methodology of “Theological Iconography.” In the 10th-century Archaic period, which forms the core of this study, painters depicted Elizabeth placing her hand directly on Mary's womb. This radical gesture was not merely a reaction to the heresy of Docetism but a “tactile verification” rooted in patristic theology, confirming the Incarnation as a tangible reality. Furthermore, this gesture functioned as a “visual deixis” that resonated with the liturgy, creating a synesthetic experience of the dogma within the cave churches. Additionally, by introducing the extra-biblical maidservant at the threshold and applying everyday realism, the painters expanded the private encounter into a public revelation. This rich narrative tradition underwent significant changes in the 11th century due to liturgical standardization and the diffusion of Column Church architecture. While the narrative was generally condensed, the maidservant was occasionally elevated to the status of a saint or a noblewoman, sublimating the biblical event into an imperial and liturgical context. Even under Islamic (Rum Seljuq) rule in the 13th century, the local community tenaciously preserved this iconography as a marker of their religious identity. In conclusion, the Cappadocian Aspasmos is a crystallization of “visual theology,” born from monastic reflection that sought to testify to the mystery of the Incarnation as a “tangible reality.” By elevating Mary’s visit to the status of a “Theophany” and the “First Proclamation of the Gospel,” this iconography demonstrates the essence of Byzantine art: the power of the image to transcend the text and function as a living liturgical presence.

This article examines how Thi Bui’s The Best We Could Do employs the formal resources of graphic narrative to represent intergenerational trauma, postmemory, and refugee history shaped by the Vietnam War and its aftermath. While trauma originates in the parents’ direct experiences of war, displacement, and forced migration, the memoir demonstrates that trauma persists beyond the first generation, becoming embedded in family dynamics, emotional atmospheres, and everyday survival practices. Drawing on trauma theory, postmemory studies, and comics scholarship, the article argues that Bui visualizes trauma not as a singular historical event but as an ongoing relational condition that structures parenting, communication, and identity across generations. Through close analysis of panel composition, color palettes, temporal fragmentation, and recurring motifs such as water, documents, and family portraits, the study shows how graphic narrative renders affective states and silences that resist linear narration. The article foregrounds how trauma is transmitted less through explicit storytelling than through embodied habits, emotional restraint, and refugee reflexes, aligning with the concept of postmemory as an affective and mediated inheritance. It further demonstrates how The Best We Could Do reconfigures graphic memoir as a site of ethical witnessing, positioning the reader as a co-witness to familial and historical trauma. By centering an Asian American woman’s refugee narrative, this study expands the predominantly Western canon of graphic memoir scholarship and challenges individual-centered models of trauma. It argues that Bui’s memoir exemplifies the graphic narrative’s distinctive capacity to visualize the afterlives of war?its recursive return in domestic life, its inscription in family relationships, and its potential transformation through acts of drawing, narration, and empathetic recognition.