Every Red Thing I Own

A collection of photos documenting every red thing I own for the purpose of observing, categorizing, and exploring the meaning of the color red.

A collection of photos documenting every red thing I own for the purpose of observing, categorizing, and exploring the meaning of the color red.

The thought process that led me to this project started while I was watching a youtube video from Vox about how the major political parties in the United States got their colors. The left-leaning Democratic Party is now blue but was originally red because of the color’s association of leftist movements. This got me thinking about the significance of color, and how this significance can range from something as mundane as a personal color preference to something as big as representing Communism. Noting that I had books about leftist movements, I thought it would be interesting to examine every red thing I owned to compare them and see which objects were red for a meaningful reason and which were red for the sake of simply being red. I grouped the objects into categories such as grooming products, office supplies, as well as miscellaneous. I found it interesting to think about the color red in other contexts, too- how red lipstick was originally associated with prostitutes and was taboo to wear. Thinking about how a color can become something to avoid, something to be shamed for. Thinking about how the color red represents seemingly opposite things such as violence and bloodshed as well as love. Thinking about how colors can be symbolic of both revolution and an average person's favorite color because it reminds them of something as innocuous as a strawberry. Colors don’t have any inherent meaning, but we still certainly assign meaning to them, even in objective settings.

Every Red Thing I Own - photography

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Learning Significance

  1. Exploration of concepts and how to communicate them visually. Exploration of the symbolism of color. Composition. Photoshop. Photography.