From both my initial visual mind map and colour artist research posts I discovered the festival of Holi, which I found to be of interest due to the concept of throwing paint at one and other creating energy and vibrancy in festival which brings such joy to people.
As planned previously here I researched into the festival of Holi, to help me identify the meaning and history of the festival.
Research
Below I have scanned in my annotated website pages, including all my notes and thoughts.
Refer to Research Folder
Artsitic Video of the Holi Festival
What did I learn?
- Occurs Annually in March (Phalgun) – Mainly in India – Full Moon Day
- Throwing coloured water not just powder
- Bringing Communities together – All classes and ages celebrate together
- Spring Festival – Celebration of the start of the spring – Remove the gloom of winter
- History based if Hindu God’s – King Hiranyakashyap wanted everyone to worship him, but his son Prahlad would not as he worshipped Lord Vishnu. The king asked his sister Holika to kill Prahlad in fire that she was immune too. They went into the fire however, Holika perished due to not going in the fire along and Vishnu saved Prahlad. At the festival bonfires are formed and Holika is burnt.
- Tolos – groups of women and elders who apply colours to others
- Lovers throw colour onto each other to show their affection and confess their love.
Inspiration
Having learnt more about the background of the festival I find it fascinating that there are multiple stories around origin of it, giving the throwing of colour context and opening up the opportunity to expand my research into historical stories.
However, I still feel more inspired by the actual act of throwing the paint and creating works of art on the body, as it’s the joy and excitement from the colour that is of interest to me.
I also like the concept that the colour is visually showing the joy of people, rather than simply the facial expressions. Which brings up the idea of being able to project your emotions onto others through the medium of colours, to help others feel you’re emotions, which I believe could be a very unique and interesting game mechanic.
Another aspect I found interest from the research is the concept that the colour is being used to break away from the gloom of the winter and bring life and warmth back to the people. I feel I would be interested to explore a similar concept within my work, because colour could form a unique exploration mechanic, that helps people discover information through colour. I also believe it links well to the concept of colour therapy I learnt about briefly beforehand, as it could take away the gloom of mental illness and bring joy and relief to those suffering it.
Plan
- Plan to research further into colour therapy – How does it help? What illnesses can it treat? Is there any science behind it?
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