Use of high contrast in patterns has been used as a deliberate method to disguise objects and people has been widely used in military contexts. The most common is in camouflage of uniforms. Dazzle camouflage was an ingenious method that maximised the use of light and reflective qualities of water was used in WW1 to disguise ships. Could these interventions that confuse our vision be used in different contexts to attract attention and maintain interest?
A number of studies suggest that there are some universally agreed human aesthetic responses to natural environments. A study by Kakehashi (et al) has found certain colour combinations in Papilionade butterflies preferred by humans. Supported by findings from the field of neuroaesthetics, that colour harmony is aesthetically pleasing to humans , and in experimental psychology “that human perception of colour combinations in nature are perceived as harmonious” Her study using human preferences of butterflies has found:
and that : “We believe that the cognitive effects of processing fluency in these colour combination rules influence human aesthetic responses.”
Sometimes people living with dementia have difficulty recognising every day objects. This is not related to sight loss. They may have no issues with visual acuity when their sight is tested. In The Mind’s Eye , Oliver Sacks desccribes the impact of this form of agnosia, associated with post cortical atrophy that affects some people with dementia. These images are from a film Do I see what you see co created from accounts of people living with dementia by Created out of mind
give us some idea of living with this condition what this might be like
Can the power of images such as these that draw the viewer, and challenge our perception give us some insight into altered perceptions in dementia, and offer perhaps a captivating rather than a disturbing experience ? It is often said that some people living with dementia experience pattern as 3-dimensional or moving, and therefore potentially disturbing. In Realistic Magic: Objects, Ontology and Causality, Andrew Morton describes the:” aesthetic dimension as a the causal dimension.. you are working directly with people’s optic nerve and field of vision..” He describes his experience of viewing the paintings of aboriginal painter Yukultji Nanpangati :” The gaze emanates from the force field of a Napangati painting. It gathers me into it’s disturbing, phantasmal unfolding of zigzagging lines and oscillating patches.”.. ” At a distance it looks like a woven mat of reeds or slender stalks, yellowed, sun baked, resting on top of some darker, warmer depth. A generous, relaxed, precise, careful yet giving, caring lineation made of some blobby dots. The warmth reminds me of Klee. The lines remind you of Bridget Riley. As you come close and begin to face the image it begins to play, to scintillate, to disturb the field of vision. It oscillates and ripples,..”
In The Analysis 0f Beauty (1753) Hogarth presents his view of the principles : fitness, variety, uniformity, simplicity, intricacy and quantity, is that in compositions of :”nature and art.. seem most to please and entertain the eye, and give that grace and beauty..”.
In the analysis of line, used in the description of shapes he asserts that the “waving line is a line more productive of beauty than any of the former, as in flowers, and other forms of the ornamental kind: for which reason we shall call it the line of beauty.” – And that ” though all sorts of waving lines are ornamental there is but one precise line properly to be called the line of beauty which … is number 4. “
“one cannot explain the flower by the fertiliser ” Bachelard, G. The Poetics of Space
Simone de Beauvoir observes that there is an increasing reliance on routines and habits as we grow older, that she attributes to a means of experiencing everyday life in the present, to avoid being reminded of time passing. Our posessions, she suggests, support these routines:”The things that belong to us are, as it were, solidified habits, the mark of certain repetitive forms of repetitive behaviour. The posession of a garden means being able to take one’s walk every afternoon: this armchair is waiting for me to sit in it every evening.” (De Beauvoir, S. (1970) La Viellese (tr.Old Age (1972).
For many of us most parts of our everyday lives involves shared space. Outdoors, travelling, at work, at home, at school, at uni. How much does personal space matter? How do different people personalise whatever space they have. How permanent or transient is it?
I have moved from my home 200 miles a way. I chose the colour scheme when I refurbished the kitchen (left). I am now housesitting, living amongst the owners posessions, a tasteful neutral pallete. An old friend visiting, was prompted to buy me this mug that somehow encapsulates my personal preferences into one everyday object.
I know what I like