The Color of Trauma

Abstract

Research Article| June 01 2021 The Color of Trauma Kathy Johnson Bowles Kathy Johnson Bowles Kathy Johnson Bowles is an artist, writer, consultant, and independent scholar. Her work focuses on social justice and underrepresented voices. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Afterimage (2021) 48 (2): 9–32. https://doi.org/10.1525/aft.2021.48.2.9 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Kathy Johnson Bowles; The Color of Trauma. Afterimage 1 June 2021; 48 (2): 9–32. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/aft.2021.48.2.9 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentAfterimage Search “Those colors hurt my eyes,” remarked my friend Sarah as she observed the juxtaposition of Prussian blue and vermilion-colored materials in one of my artworks. The work’s content focuses on the trauma of harassment, threats, assault, discrimination, and defamation. Sarah’s words had stopped me in my tracks: the colors were inflicting pain, just as the piece conveyed the experience of trauma’s pain. My attention was captured by the implication that colors could literally become active as a physical body. This notion coupled with the profound trauma of events experienced globally in 2020 provided the impetus and sense of urgency to consider color and trauma more deeply. My mind raced thinking about the color of trauma and the trauma of color. The color-coding of race and identity is a history of oppression and violence. Color maims and murders as with Scheele’s Green, orpiment, and cinnabar. Color takes over the body in... You do not currently have access to this content.