Languages have a natural origin in the meaning of human life, after which these meanings have been fixed and passed on from one generation to the next.
Language is also the most sophisticated means of expression, as it has both meanings and images.
When we consider letters, which are one of the two forms of language, they can be considered to be situated in the same dimension as paintings in terms of ‘color’ and ‘form’ on a flat surface. The main aim of my work is to create a relationship between letters and colors from this starting point.
Specifically, I am “color translating” and reconstructing words and texts by replacing each of the 26 letters of the alphabet with its own color as a written language. The first step in the color translation process was to decide on a method of expression, which could be called a methodology.
Next, in selecting the content to be color-translated, I classified the functions that letters have fulfilled since their inception into three broad categories, each of which has something symbolic for me. These were then compiled into a work in the form of a ‘book’.
The three categories are as follows.
- Items used with a specific style
Certificates, signs, documents, etc. - Records of studies in general, communication of research and books in general
- Means of artistic expression
Poems, novels, etc.
The above is a brief but step-by-step description of the process from the start of this color translation work to the publication of the book.
The methodology for relating color and text was based on a pictorial approach, ignoring the optical approach.
In order to find the point of contact between the two different worlds of the alphabet and color, I examined each of ‘language’ and ‘color’ from various angles in search of clues.
In the end, the word “rainbow”, which I came across by chance, became the core of the color translation, because this word for rainbow is made up of seven letters (R, A, I, N, B, O, W), meaning the seven color of the rainbow, so I first tried to apply the seven colors to these seven letters. The first step was to fit the seven colors to these seven letters.
I decided which of the seven colors should be assigned to which letter of the alphabet, considering the “frequency” and “combination” with which each letter is seen in our daily life, as well as my own conditions for expression. Similarly, I treated each of the remaining nineteen letters (nineteen colors) as a “tanzaku” of color by replacing each with its own color, and expressed words and sentences by turning them into bands of color.
The contents are described below.
| 1 | Color translation |
| 3 – 4 | Italian food menu |
| 5 – 6 | Einstein, physics of baffles |
| 7 – 8 | Moon landings |
| 9 | Digitisation of society |
| 10 | Cloned humans |
| 11 – 12 | U٠F٠O |
| 13 | Religion |
| 14 – 15 | Floyd Dreams |
| 16 | Rainbow drawing |
| 17 | Rainbow |
| 18 | Poetry (contemporary poetry/US) |
| 19 – 20 | Novel (Mrs Chatterley’s Lover) |
| 21 – 24 | Poem (All you need is LOVE/John Lennon) |
| 25 | Color trans. signed |