BLACK AND WHITE COLOURS
Just the other day I came across a copy of Colors magazine. I’d never seen it before. Strange, because it was launched in 1991, and has been published quarterly in multiple languages ever since. Shame on me. Anyway, each issue is dedicated to a particular subject. It was Colors that was responsible for famously doctoring the face of the Queen to look like a black woman in its issue on race in 1993, and it was Colors that caused uproar when an issue on AIDS discussed the disease in the kind of blunt and forthright manner that no one else dared adopt; a picture of US president Ronald Reagan engineered to look like an emaciated AIDS sufferer reflected their approach.
The latest issue is about money. As usual, a new micro site has been constructed online to introduce readers to the subject. Go to www.colorsmagazine.com, (make sure you do) and you’ll be presented with some graphic copy on money and how it forms the subject of this month’s magazine. Of course, they don’t tackle the issue of money as you might expect them to. Instead, they had some bank notes analysed to see what substance they could find. Some you’d expect, and some you wouldn’t, but each discovery corresponds to a different section in the issue, and the result represents a crazy reinterpretation of finance today. It's clear from issues both present and past that whoever conceived the original concept for Colors was either a) dreaming, or b) an impossibly imaginative, creative and determined individual.
The beauty of Colors is that it’s a socially conscious publication dedicated to the world. Sounds a little inflated, no? Yep, but it succeeds by looking at things in an entirely different way to everyone else: by harnessing creativity. Issues that bore us to death on a day to day basis are here reinterpreted and presented in a way that captivates the mind. Hell, just the idea of dedicating each issue to a different topic had me sold. Colors takes a simple idea - dedicating each volume to one subject - and uses it to discuss and raise awareness of globally prevalent issues impacting on the world around us. And, as Reagan and the Queen have shown, they aren’t afraid to put their necks on the line.
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Last month, Colors was dedicated to the blind and visually impaired. Why? Because there are over 40 million blind people in the world. That’s a huge number. Again, it’s about finding a way to talk about things that we’d all rather not talk about. The magazine was packaged in a braille front cover and printed in black and white from beginning to end: Colors without colour, if you will. It also came with a CD containing all content recounted in audio in four different languages, inspirational stories of people who have made something of their lives despite visual impairment. People like Tcha Limberger, the blind violinist who’s short piece moved me to the point that I promise (to try) to never moan about a lack of resource ever again, because we have everything we need. An extract from Tcha’s piece makes the point, I think. Look out for future issues...
“I was born blind and, like my brother, premature. My parents used to give him lots of attention so I became independent. My mother insisted that I study in a normal school. I took up violin when I was 17. It’s a ruthless instrument. It either sounds right or totally wrong. I am constantly researching. I experiment. I try different instruments and styles of music. What matters is to share, to meet other people. I’d like my music to be therapeutic. If I’m not able to find solutions for other people’s problems, my role is to recharge them so they feel inspired to continue in whatever they must do.
“My body is an instrument that allows my soul to express itself. I try to play authentic music with a personal touch. Jazz is music to be worked on. One always has to try to improve his knowledge and skill. I am in a perpetual self-construction process, I don’t want to stop and tell myself I have achieved something. I don’t have a specific goal. I only want to let my music grow. Some people say, “Tcha doesn’t play music, he is music.
“Being blind makes it easier for me to concentrate. I don’t know what kind of musician I am. I play the music I like and that’s it. If I were told that I could recover my eyesight, I would refuse. Learning to see would be too complicated. I don’t feel like I’m missing something.”
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