Colors Of Unity

This series of portraits is my endeavour to focus on the individual. Greater diversity leads to more unity. More the emphasis on individualism, less the focus on religious, racial and social divides.

One is not just defined by one's place of birth, origin or parentage but moulded by the myriad influences through the course of life; friends, associations, relationships, travel, books, audiovisuals and now the world wide web!

Human behaviour and mental processes, its variability and invariance, under diverse cultural conditions are what we see in every individual. In the connected world of today conceptions of the self may lack external validity when exported to other cultural contexts.

Preconceived notions determine what is age or gender appropriate. Cultural, regional and race bias created by the influence of our surroundings define our views on sexism, homophobia and sexual variance.

Reactions to colour differ continually with changing times, attitudes and new dictates. Wars, slavery and racism led to discrimination based on skin colour creating a visual demarcating line between the oppressors and the oppressed in recent centuries. Some of these stigmas continue into the present day yet are being challenged and redefined.

Colours worn for various occasions vary significantly from one group of people to another. Black is the colour of mourning for some, and white for others. White may symbolise purity and is worn by brides in some cultures and yet is viewed as an absence of colour and therefore worn by widows in other cultures, who may favour fire colours such as red and yellow. Blue is the colour for baby boys and pink for baby girls in western cultures but has no such significance in other cultures.

In these paintings race, gender, age and sexual orientation biases have been blurred to emphasise this idea. Men and women have metallic lips, colourful skin and hair and reflective glasses. The glasses in these paintings symbolise a view of the external world, its reflection and influences on the mind, this set of influences unique to every individual with the individual's interpretation and expression also being unique.

The paintings are mounted on transparent acrylic frames mirroring the reflection through the glasses on the face creating an illusion that the glasses are letting light filter through just as the frame does.

Colour Spectrum :

Iris Vision
Iris Apfel the inimitable style icon at 96 who blends the old and the new, east and west and colours in every hue! an inspiration!

Canvas Size : 61cm X 91.5 cm
Medium : Acrylic on Canvas