A totally objective and completely unbiased ranking of different shades of red
By Nompumelelo Mpehle
You might be thinking, ‘This is dumb. You can’t review a colour; that’s way too subjective!’ and you’re probably right, but you may also be wrong. Red is perhaps the worst colour to review because it has the broadest and deepest symbolism across culture, nature, technology and medicine – every facet of our human existence is somehow steeped in red. Or maybe it’s the best colour to review for that very same reason.
Red has a special place in human history because of its abundance in the natural world. After black and white, red is usually the first colour a language will develop a name for. It’s common in clay and ore, where it indicates particular minerals like iron, cinnabar, zinc and lead. It’s also common in nature where it indicates ripe berries, flowers, and animal mating displays. It has wide use in human culture as a symbol of revolution, royalty, beauty, sex and danger. The only thing this colour doesn’t do is relax.
For thousands of years people have made art out of red pigments taken from minerals like cinnabar, lead and hematite, plants like madder (Rubia tinctorum), and insects like the cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus). This has sometimes had disastrous consequences for people. Both the Ancient Chinese and Romans created rouge out of mercury ore – which caused tremors, dementia and death by poisoning – lead in lipsticks sapped the life of vain wearers (including Queen Elizabeth I), and in Renaissance Europe, the demand for crimson at one point grew so high that governments had to make laws restricting the cultivation of woad to curb soil exhaustion in arable farmland ...
This review is an excerpt. To read the full article, pick up a copy of the October 2022 print version for free at either the RMIT Student Union in Building 8 on Swanston St or the lobby of Building 94 on Cardigan St.
Commentaires