“The hue of that portion of the visible spectrum lying between red and yellow, evoked in the human observer by radiant energy with wavelengths of approximately 590 to 630 nanometres; any of a group of colours between red and yellow in hue, of medium lightness and moderate saturation.”’
There are states of being orange that range from closer to red to closer to yellow. But at some point you have to declare the colour orange. Maybe I’ve thought too much about this. I should be clear that I’m not saying that orange is discriminated against because it is neither red nor yellow. Quite the opposite, I am saying that orange has a decision to make and it also gets to change its mind whenever it wants. Along the spectrum of being orange, orange gets to consider itself both red and yellow. Being a mix of primary colours has advantages and orange is filled with opportunity to live on both sides of the spectrum.
Such is the age we live in. An age of rapid change and mutation. Increasingly the things we ourselves produce are the result of a merging of disparate objects and ideas. This happens both by chance and by deliberate manipulation. We mix mountain bikes and road bikes. We mix gas combustion with electricity. We mix Korean BBQ with Tacos. We mix ginger and chilli with coleslaw to make Asian Slaw. We mix synthesizers and drum machines with cellos. We mix machine noise with rhythms. We mix lions with tigers. We mix cotton with lycra. From this all we got the hybrids, fusion cuisine, electronica, ligers and spandex. All pretty weird and amazing stuff.
I suppose my empathy with orange stems from my own hybridity. I have lived my life between two colours of medium lightness and moderate saturation. Falling between the two hues has given me the advantage of leaning towards either direction depending on my mood. Like orange, sometimes I feel red while at other times I feel yellow. The disadvantage of this ambiguity is it sometimes allows red to reject me and push me towards yellow. Vice versa as well. The place where I have felt this the least in my life is Suriname, South America. Suriname may be the ultimate hybrid place. Suriname was colonized by the British and Dutch. As a result it is inhabited by decedents of Aboriginals, Africans, Asians, South Asians and Europeans. Suriname is also in an ambiguous place geographically. It is on the South American continent but feels like the Caribbean. It's a Dutch speaking South American country! You can't get more mixed up than that.
What of Canada? Hugh MacLennan's declaration of the "two solitudes" may have personified our language isolation for a time. It is true that most Canadians are either French or English. This language alignment is independent of our race. But some Canadians have the privilege of being perfectly orange :-). Moving to the US for 5 years and coming back has helped me see that pluralism not purity makes us Canadians distinct. Yes to Quebec being distinct. Yes to Alberta being distinct. Yes to Nova Scotia being distinct. Yes to the territories being distinct. Without having to list all our distinct regions, I declare that the essence of Canadian distinctness is our sense of pluralism. We honour everyone and are not afraid of the result.
The mixing, merging, and hybridisation of everything seems unstoppable here in Canada and everywhere. Facilitated transportation, experimentation, freedom, communication, and curiosity will only lead to ever expanding diversity through hybridisation. Purity of pedigree and the notion of lineage are concerns of the past. But this is probably just my wishful thinking. If I reflect on my experience in the US, I see a growing divide - "a multitude of solitudes" if I may steal from MacLennan. The divide between left and right, poor and rich, east and west, smart and dumb, old and young all seem to be widening in spite of my belief that the middle ground is inevitable. Somehow, someway, someone needs to see both sides and its probably going to take someone in the middle. May the orange of America find their voice.
I am sorry to say - I have no answers, only questions? I can tell you that hybrid art provides me with some solace. Music and food are our best forms of planned mutation. The mixing of old and young works well with food. Take any ancient cuisine and apply new cooking techniques. Mixing eastern and western music works well. A bungra beat with some melody and lyrics is always cool. And so other smart people work on subtle answers all the time. These are the people who are not afraid of what may happen if you mix things up.
Note: As always I invite your comments. I have been pleased by my steady and growing readership. Many thanks to those of you that have sent me feedback or have shared "Now is Everywhere" with others. I leave you with some Art of Noise from 1984.
No comments:
Post a Comment