The island of the colorblind
By: Sanne De Wilde
Publisher: Kannibaal bvba / Hannibal
Published: 2017
Place of publication: Lichtervelde
Language: eng
Number of pages: 175
ISBN-13: 9789492677068
Subjects: Pingelap (Micronesian people); Pictorial works; Black-and-white photography; Color blindness
Description: In the late eighteenth century a catastrophic typhoon swept over Pingelap, a tiny atoll in the Pacific Ocean. One of the survivors, the king, carried the rare achromatopsia-gene that causes complete colorblindness. The king went on to have many children and as time passed by, the hereditary condition affected the isolated community and the islanders started seeing the world in black and white. Portraying the islanders (that by their fellow Micronesians are referred to as "blind") and their island resulted in a conceptual selection of images that mask or emphasize the eyes, face, or their "vision" and invite the viewer to enter a dreamful world of colorful possibilities. "The Island of the Colorblind" consists of "normal" digital images converted to black and white with Photoshop (shot with Nikon D810) and infrared images (shot with Nikon D700, to IR converted body) shot in Pohnpei & Pingelap in November 2015. The third series within the project are the achromatic picture-paintings.