The Island of the Colorblind
© Sanne De Wilde“Color is just a word to those who cannot see it.”
In the late eighteenth century, a catastrophic typhoon swept across Pingelap, a remote atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Among the few survivors was the island’s king—a carrier of a rare genetic mutation: achromatopsia. As he fathered many children, the gene quietly spread, and over generations, many Pingelapese came to see the world in black and white. Achromatopsia is marked by extreme light sensitivity—daylight is unbearably bright, moonlight turns night into day—reduced visual acuity, and a complete absence of color vision.
In The Island of the Colorblind, De Wilde experiments with alternative ways of seeing. Using black-and-white photography, infrared imaging, and collaborative photo-paintings, she constructs a layered visual language that embraces ‘the diversity of seeing and being’ and opens up a world of colorful possibilities and diverse realities. Photographing the islanders—who in Pingelapese are referred to as blind (maskun)—resulted in a conceptual selection of images in which eyes, faces, or vision itself are partially obscured, for we can never truly see through someone else’s eyes.
Flames burn in grayscale; trees shimmer with unexpected tones. Candyfloss forests and bubblegum-colored waters emerge, pinks rising from leaves as rainbows dissolve into gradients of grey—a spectrum reimagined. The Island of the Colorblind invites viewers into a dreamlike exploration of color and perception. It asks: what might the world look like through an unconditioned, colorblind mind? If those who cannot see color could paint it with their imagination, how would they depict trees, oceans, or even themselves? And perhaps—are those of us who see in color the ones who are truly blind?
The project culminates in an immersive installation that deepens the encounter, building a sensory bridge between islanders and viewers, between perception and imagination.
click to view the complete set of images in the archive
Book published by Hannibal Books & co-published by Kehrer [SOLD OUT]
Softcover
UV-sensitive, changes in sunlight 22,5 x 28 cm
160 pages
85 color illustrations
English
Out of print
ISBN 978-3-86828-826-1 2017
Artist: Sanne De Wilde
Texts:
Arnon Grunberg, Azu Nwagbogu, Oliver Sacks, Katharina Smets, Duncan Speakman, Roel Van Gils, Sanne De Wilde
Design:
Tim Bisschop
Softcover
UV-sensitive, changes in sunlight 22,5 x 28 cm
160 pages
85 color illustrations
English
Out of print
ISBN 978-3-86828-826-1 2017
Artist: Sanne De Wilde
Texts:
Arnon Grunberg, Azu Nwagbogu, Oliver Sacks, Katharina Smets, Duncan Speakman, Roel Van Gils, Sanne De Wilde
Design:
Tim Bisschop