Pure Colors

“When we are children we seldom think of the future,” writes Patrick Rothfuss. “This innocence leaves us free to enjoy ourselves as few adults can. The day we fret about the future is the day we leave our childhood behind.”

They begin with innocence. Calm and quiet, shaky and timid. Kids have a knack for leading themselves into the unknown and then pulling back, all of a sudden acutely aware of the world around them. Exploration works in spurts – fast and slow and fast again, pausing for everything that holds their attention while running from all else.

It’s a sentiment perfectly illustrated in Adrien Broom’s latest installation – The Color Project. In the photographic series, a child walks from color-filled room to color-filled room, a process not unlike the journey of growing up. “I want each world to be discovered through a place of innocence and simplicity,” Adrien writes. “And once the journey is over, [we’ll] have a new outlook on the world.

The rooms change from fluffy whites to bold reds, from sunshiney yellows to deep-watered blues. And like a child, we’re forced to walk through each – slowly and timidly – letting the excitement for the color around the bend stay just where it should be: around the bend.

Because the bend always comes. Yet by rushing along, we risk mixing our colors – our perspectives. We risk wasting time, as we view each room to be a blur of the next: red and yellow making orange – yellow and blue creating green.

Keep us present. Keep them young. Keep their colors bright and saturated, because soon they will be adults, painting frenzied portraits into the future.

But if their palette is pure and their brushes are present? Rainbows await.

Image Credits: Adrien Broom

p.s. An art installation for the kids.

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