Captivated by Color - An Essay, but also, A Reflection

Wassup. So, I have been searching for clarity and purpose. We've got to ask ourselves questions to understand our why. Why am I this way? Why do I do this? Well, I have found some answers. Here is the answer to why I am captivated by color.

Please enjoy this mysterious photo of me in Miami that I edited.

I understand color to be even more accessible than, say, music, art, or writing - simply because it predates us. Color is all around us as "seeing" humans who perceive light. Yet, not everyone experiences color the same way. Some have no access to color at all due to blindness, while others may have limited access to light (which is a fancy word for color). Color is light, and light is transcendent. It travels across space, time, and all human construction. I am not interested in color because of our conventions of it (which colors "go together" or are pleasing to the eye, a.k.a. color theory) because I don't believe in what should or should not be. I am only interested in what is. Why are we so attached to color as human beings? Color is extraordinarily powerful, and it has the ability unify and define us.

Matter and light are the two attributes of time that have existed long before we named them, or even came into be as humans. The bible begins, as does scientific theory of the Universe, with the understanding that light came first;

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. - Genesis 1:3

He then goes about carving out and defining everything in the Universe. Similarly, according to theories of space and time, the Universe began as soup of what we know to be "neutrons, protons, anti-electrons (positrons), photons, and neutrinos." I'm not gonna lie, I barely know what that means, but I know that light is made up of photons. NASA pretty much explains that the formation of the universe can be deduced to a process of atoms combining and recombining to form the first molecules cooling down to form space and matter. But because photons are particles (smaller than atoms) rather than molecules, they came first. This is also why light is the fastest traveling form of energy known to us.

Color is cultural. We identify with certain colors based on the foods we eat, our architecture and built environments, and our national identities. We are familiar with the colors of our country’s flag, and each of those colors has a history. Most blues represent water, red; blood, green; land. Yellow is often seen in flags of countries in warmer climates, as yellow - or gold - represents sunlight. These meanings seem generally understood across cultures, even if the histories of why may differ. However, borders and nations usually require similar ingredients for their formation: people, land, water, and cause to protect that is worth dying for. Naturally, many of these ingredients are assigned colors after their literal materializations or the visual associations we have with certain histories. Black and white are great examples. Granted, these are not colors but shades, but even this keys us into their importance as the absence and abundance of light respectively. Black is often equated with strength; a token of endurance through the absence of hope or light. White suggests peace; in war, a conceding party might wave a white flag as a signal to end violence, or to agree to disagree: a beacon of light.

Color's weighted implications throughout human history makes it important across technology, architecture, gender, psychology, and even health. We understood color as signals, as language before we could ascertain spoken and, eventually, written language. It is important to food, to survival. Color can be utilitarian, but also frivolous and indulgent. Certain specific colors can even imply access to wealth, by nature of how rare it is. We use it to communicate whether we realize it or not. We use it to express ourselves. In modern history especially (post-1800), certain societies and individuals' lack of color can be telling as well. Communities of color in particular have a history of being more colorful. Look into the history of color across human engineering in the Caribbean, textiles of African and Asian cultures, and class delineations around the world.

Regardless of our varying interpretations and perceptions of hue, color is difficult to refute. Although the names of these colors may be contested, and are man-made constructions, the colors themselves remain the same. For the most part, we all seem to be in agreement that the sky is one color and the grass is another. There is plenty of evidence that cultures have used color for centuries and we have learned that it even has a significant impact on our emotional wellbeing as well. Light and color therapy can improve mental and physical health. (If unfamiliar, James Turrell is a cool place to start!) And it is good for the spirit. How can you be mad at color? Shapes (circle, triangle, square), although they exist in nature, are mostly conventions but color just is. I love this quote from The Lion King, when Mufasa tells Simba,

"everything the light touches is our kingdom."

Although this could be understood as disturbingly colonial, (as if Simba "owns" everything, which is not true) it becomes clear later in the story that he is referring to the circle of life. Everything the light touches, has come to mean something to us, and is worth respecting and protecting. It is human intervention - the imitation and replication of it - that taints and complicates it. That, my friends, is another topic entirely.

Ta-Ta for now,
CheyTea