Color and Emotions

The use of colors has a profound impact on emotions within cultural contexts. For example, the colors Red, White, Yellow and Red represent the concept of peace and unity in Native American/First Nations cultures. Other Native cultures see white as a color of "hope" while purple as a color of despair and social trauma.

Within neuropsychology, we know what happens when our senses are triggering emotions. The colors are processed in the visual cortex, which are then transmitted to the Amygdala region of the brain. The Amygdala then transmits the information to the frontal and pre-frontal cortex, which controls emotional response and reason.

Color though, is more than just a passing light through a prism, and more than just a set of neurons moving around. Regardless of the cultural context of colors, there is one thing that all societies on the plant have in common: the use of color in art, or the use of color as a representation of the world around us binds us together as a species. It represents our politics, our social order, our kin, our connectedness with other human beings. This is the aspect of colors that intrigues me the most as a Sociologist and an artist.

There was a reason why the Soviet Union chose the color red as their background for their flag. Inversely, there was a resin why the United States and France chose Red, White, and Blue. There was a reason why the Tudors chose a red rose for their family symbol, and the Windsors a white rose. These are all social ties that bind.

Within the Feelings video, there was an overarching question from the Enlightenment and art: How far have we come really in being a civilized species? David represented the potential of man while Goya represented the never-ending darkness of man. This is in line with what Enlightenment thinkers of the time were struggling with; thinkers such as Jean Jacques Rousseau  and Immanuel Kant. Kant said that all people had a social contract with one another, while Rousseau was pointing toward the idea that man could still be dark if allowed to be.

All Enlightenment thinkers and artists has ideas on the organization of society. This is reflected not only in their writing, but their art, which INCLUDES writing. These ideas on organizing societies is still debated today. However, colorful art that provokes emotions, is just as important as colorful words and ideas that does the same thing.

"A savage society is one that ignores its own rules when it becomes convenient." Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Origins of Inequality.

"War is politics by other means, and at its most violent." Carl von Clausewitz

These words by Enlightenment thinkers are just as colorful and thought provoking as anything painted by David or Eugéne Delacroix. The art, through it's colors, shapes, and real-word dimensions and scales, allow us to think about ourselves, and our role in Kant's social contract.