Reconciliation for Whites with Colour
A Lecture / Seminar / Workshop* by Catherine van Wilgenburg
This Lecture/Seminar/Workshop is available for presentation, or for sale as an electronic document. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Catherine.
See Catherine's paintings that accompany this lecture in the Gallery.
What does reconciliation mean for whites? Can black and white be reconciled through colour? Reconciliation is about the meeting of this black and white first world dualistic human condition, which places black and white, inner and outer, Self and Other, Subject and Object in opposition. This visual lecture examines First World ideas on colour as originating from associations of black with darkness and evil and white with light and goodness, showing the impact that these ideas in the twenty first century.
The lecture Reconciliation for Whites with Colour outlines the necessary changes in thought and perception of colour, if whites are to be reconciled with blacks. It traces the origins of the schism between visual science and art research into colour through the opposing colour theories of Goethe and Newton in order to uncover a more complete picture of how colour impacts upon a human being in physiology, psychology and philosophy.
It suggests that it is by experiencing colour phenomena in nature, visual art, verbal and written language, that issues of reconciliation for whites are explored through the visual language of colour images.
The works in progress, lectures and workshops present reconciliation for whites as not only a matter of acknowledging Aboriginal Rites and Rights but as also about reclaiming archetypal memory that existed before the rational and scientific logic of the Enlightenment. Now in the dark for whites, this ancient memory can be rekindled by experiencing colour phenomena at the edges of Black and White.
It is not enough as it was a half century ago to discover and admire the art of indigenous peoples: we have to discover the sources of these arts in ourselves, so that we can be aware of what it is in modern existence, that is still mythical and that survives in us as part of the human condition.
~ Mircea Eliade
... we have to find ways of effecting a release of archetypal memory that predates the loss of our integration with nature ... These other modes of reality – vision outside the ego's control, vision rooted in the soul – were left behind by the rational and scientific logic of the Enlightenment and need to be reclaimed by our culture.
~ Susi Gablik The Re-Enchantment of Art
* This Lecture/Seminar may be accompanied by a visual workshop which traces the origins of the schism between visual science and art research into colour through the opposing colour theories of Goethe and Newton in order to uncover a more complete picture of how colour impacts upon a human being in physiology, psychology and philosophy. Water colour painting, prisms, fabrics and coloured lights are used to demonstrate these complementary colour theories and their impact upon human functioning.
References
Bortoft, Henri (1996) The Wholeness of Nature, Goethe's Way of Science Edinburgh: Lindisfarne Press & Floris Books
Gage, John (c1999) Colour and Meaning: Art, Science and Symbolism Berkeley; Los Angeles: University of California Press
Gage, John (1993) Colour and Culture: Practice and meaning from antiquity to abstraction Boston: Little Brown and Co.
Goethe, Johannes (1840) Goethe's Theory of Colours (applied by Maria Schindler) Chichester: New Knowledge (1964)
Hardin C.L. and Maffi Luisa, eds (1997) Colour categories in thought and language Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press
Hope, Augustine and Walch, Margaret, eds (1990) The Colour Compendium New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold
Kakkib li'Dthia Warrawee'a (2000) Storytelling (Holistic Health Conference Papers) Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne.
Kuehni, Rolf G. (1983) Colour Essence & Logic New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold
Ott, John Nash, Dr. (1973) Health and Light Connecticut: The Devin-Adair Co.
Proskauer, Heinrich O. (1986) The Rediscovery of Colour New York: Spring Valley. Includes prisms and cards especially prepared for practical use.
Saint-Martin, Fernande (1990) Semiotics of Visual Language Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press
Sepper, Dennis (1988) Goethe contra Newton – Polemics and the project for a new science of colour New York: Cambridge University Press
Tarnas, Richard (1991) The Passion of the Western Mind, Understanding the Ideas that have Shaped our World View New York: Ballantyne Books
Zajonc, Arthur (1993) Catching the Light: the entwined history of light and mind New York: Bantam Books
