Chromatography, or Colour Studies

By literal definition, the word ‘chromatography’ is one of division - a word describing a scientific process by which mixtures are separated. The Latin roots for the word, however, tell another story; the Greek chroma which means ‘colour’, evokes the earliest uses for this process as a means to separate mixtures in pigment production, and graphein, which means ‘to write’. This base is in itself contradictory - outside of synaesthesic applications, both ‘colour’ and ‘writing’ allude to disparate types of arts - the visual and the literary. Add to this the complex idea that the word has a scientific basis, it seems by all accounts that we should consider the word one of division - a rational, chemical process that would seek to split the ties that bind colour with the emotions and creative outputs they evoke.

Considering this complexity, it is intriguing that in 1835, when George Field published his highly influential Chromatography or A Treatise on Colours and Pigments and their Powers in Painting, he chose to instead use the word as indication of a new marriage for colour - one that synthesised colour with writing, but also, as he notes in the dedication, between colour and science, art and literature, language and paint. Colour studies, in the very spirit of Field, have continued in this realm. Colour pervades every humanistic scholarly field; from philosophic and phenomenological approaches to literature, psychological colour perception, colour as a cultural indicator of the other or the queer, as well as the historical cultural value of the absence of colour - those termed ‘black’ or ‘white’.

The overall aim of this special edition of HARTS is to renegotiate this idea that colour is rooted in the visual. It attempts, as Field did early in the nineteenth-century, to bring together the various aspects of the humanities and to indicate how colour influences not only what we see, but what we perceive, think and consume. This becomes especially significant in our digital age where colour is no longer limited solely to art and the optical, but is a central element that takes a prominent place in our fashion, language, food and advertising. Colour has become behaviour, a cultural deity - a key with which to unlock hidden psychological desires, and a universal modifier to influence the behaviour of the people around us.

Some possible topics can include: 

Colour symbolism

The materiality of colour - pigments, paints, textiles

Colour history

The significance of colour in different cultures

The effect of colour science and optics on the humanities

Synaesthesia, or hearing/tasting/smelling colour

Black and white or the ‘absence of colour’

Language and naming colour

Gendered, queer or so called ‘perverse’ colours

Colour and the emotions and the senses

Architectural colour and the environment

Colour theory

Natural vs. synthetic or unnatural colour

Colour in Advertising and Media

The psychology of colour

We accept submissions of:

ARTICLES: Abstract of 300 words. Accepted abstracts will need to produce articles of no longer than 6,000 words.

BOOK REVIEWS: Approx. 1,000 words covering any academic text relevant to the theme. Interdisciplinary text preferred, but reviews of subject-specific texts will be considered.

EXHIBITION REVIEWS: Approx. 1,000 words on any event along the lines of an art exhibition, museum collection, academic event or conference review that deals with the theme in some respect.

CREATIVE WRITING PIECES: e.g. original poetry (up to 3 short or 1 long) short stories or creative essays of up to 4,000 words related to the theme.

All submissions should be sent to Liz Renes (Co-Editor in Chief) and Jade Boyd (Special Editor) at [log in to unmask] by the following dates:

• 300 word abstracts (for 6,000 word articles or full articles themselves): September 10th.
• Accepted articles - 6,000 words: October 30th.
• Creative writing and Reviews: February 15th. If you plan to submit a book review, please notify us of your intention by end of December.

Please keep in mind that HARTS & Minds is intended as a truly inter-disciplinary journal, and esoteric topics will therefore need to be written with a general academic readership in mind.

You can follow us at facebook.com/HARTSMinds or twitter @HartsMinds for review ideas, information on upcoming events related to this issue, and a showcase of past issues.

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The Editors
HARTS & Minds

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harts-minds.co.uk
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