By Grace Moon
One simple question
can take you a long way. It can even steer your career preference for the next
fifty years. Here’s how.
Imagine yourself sitting down next to Johannes
Vermeer as he paints a fresh stroke of bright ultramarine blue onto his canvas
for the first time. Why is it that he’s never had the chance to use blue before
this?
It’s because for the most part, looking back in
history, color came from the earth, which meant that different geographical
regions had different colors to offer. The blue I told you about was actually
from a gemstone called lapis lazuli, and Vermeer probably got his small share
of the expensive treasure all the way from Afghanistan -- a perfect story of how movement of culture
was more than just ideas or trinkets, but whole new experiences.
But with OLED displays and CMYK cartridges, we
don’t see instances like this anymore--it’s nearly impossible to come across
unfamiliar colors today, in spite of the fact that just a few hundred years
back, our ancestors had never seen electric purple or cantaloupe orange. This
small realization sparked in me a curiosity of humanity’s interaction with the
concept and usage of color. More specifically, the story of pigments and the
discovery, purpose, and movement over time.
And this is where I am today. As of now, I’ve
completed a 12-piece collection of infographics of unique stories that various
historical pigments carry. From the story of Scheele’s Green, a toxic pigment
that possibly caused the death of Napoleon Bonaparte, or Red Cochineal, the
bright pink “bug powder” that dyes Sour Skittles, I wanted to recognize and
celebrate not just different colors’ typical function in Western symbolism
today (such as red being a color of love), but their origin and relevance to
humanity due to their social and scientific implications.
By no means am I writing this to brag or boast
about my accomplishment. Rather, I’m here to ask you to find your own “stories
of pigments.” It is true that the
fashionable word ‘global’ from twenty years ago is a reality today. And
although we can now be proud of participating in a bigger picture, it’s crystal
clear that us high schoolers have a
significantly harder time finding incentives to dig deeper into pretty much any
topic out there. Especially in as diverse a community as Dalat (that often
offers variety in activities but not a depth in many), that can be an even
harder thing to do.
All this to say, I hope my story of how a small
inquiry blew up into a passion--that also developed into a potential
career--drives you to really take this as a goal of yours as well. As senior
Joseph Chandra once said, “There’s really nothing to lose by doing this as a
student now: you can use this small question to start off your English 12
Capstone research, to write your future college application essays on, and
maybe one day, make your Asian parents proud.”
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