Shadow play

ABSTRACT Despite its visibility but in spite of its lack of materiality (or perhaps because of it), shadow has been a rich source of metaphor, both verbal and visual. Figurative extensions to the visual realms have been less explored; here, we present and analyze some figurative uses of shadow in a sample of visual jokes, cartoons, photographs, and paintings for insights into the nuanced senses of the concept. The visual domains allow for rich expressions of meaning not easily expressed in words.