Color doesn't exist on its own.
A red rose will look different to me than it does to you. It will also look different to a pigeon, who can see way more shades and tints than most humans can see. Remember the 2015 debate overthe dress? Gold & white, blue & black or yes, some saw brown & light purple.
Color is relative and contradictory.
No matter our biology, it's hard for us to separate color from the social codes we attach to it and the context in which we see it. Blue is so strongly linked to sadness that it has come to represent the feeling itself, not just an adjective used to describe it. Yet, it's also the color of the Democratic Party and the color of transcendance in some religions.
Color is deeply intertwined with our perceptions of race, gender, politics, and emotion.
Today we try and understand the fundamental nature of color - if we can.
Also this hour: we talk to two tetrachromats!
GUESTS:
- David Scott Kastan - George M. Bodman Professor of English at Yale University and the author of On Colorwith Stephen Farthing
- Nicholas Fox Weber - Executive Director of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundationand the author of many books and essays including Josef Albers: A Retrospective. (@josefannialbers)
- Maureen Seaberg - Journalist and the author of Struck by Genius: How a Brain Injury Made Me a Mathematical Marveland Tasting the Universe: People Who See Colors in Words and Rainbows in Symphonies.She is a poly-synesthete and tetrachromat.
- Megan Arquette - Owner of Megan Arquette Studio, a commercial and residential design studio. She is also a poly-synesthete and tetrachromat. (@beachbungalow8)
You can join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
