Van Dyke Brown Series
On Consciousness of Color and Identity - 2021
Any disgrace on a person is an reflection on us all. We are too divisive to see similarity over difference. Identity is a game we play both alone and together, inside and out. We cannot see ourselves without seeing our self in the reflection in others (either through reaction or remark). Our actions and reactions have real consequences...and sometimes words are not enough. Often it is the words that cause the actual derision and conflict.
Empathy in Monotone 1, 2021. Van Dyke Brown photographic print.
We depend on our senses and understanding to communicate. Is it misconstrued senses or our differing understanding that causes conflict?
Color is and abstract idea alike to language or musical notation; an organization of varying patterns according to some common attribute. The points in which we divide colors not so easy to determine, are they not arbitrary? How many times can you split a hair? Depends on the sharpness of your blade. The more differences you see in colors, the more colors you see.
The color purple is not part of the light spectrum we can see; instead it is supplemental color to take the place of the light spectrum our senses cannot interpret with our three visual cones. If our perceptions are so easily created in our minds and can be interpreted differently, would we have the ability to change how we see our world by actively altering our witness of perceptions.
All the colors are in fact a single spectrum of light divided into convenient differentials. It is the subjective viewer that accepts or denies the importance of these differences in colors; we all decide when and where they matter.
Empathy in Monotone 1, 2021. Van Dyke Brown photographic print.
By restricting the spectrum to a single 'color' many differences become ambiguous, indiscernible, or simple irrelevant. Shade and tone are exposed without bias in desaturated images and there is no importance to it aside from connotating the shadow and lighting that is there.
It was a blessing that photography was first monochromatic and not in color; it allowed the photographer a new look on life without the bias of color and see the value in form for it's own sake. Not often do you have a technology that helps you see by taking away or restricting some of the data, yet it's surprising when subtractive methods yield results like in a monochromatic photo.
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