Joyce Dixon
MA work
MA work
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Werner's Nomenclature of Colours
Photographer: Dominic Tschudin
The White of the Human Eyeballs, and Other Colours
The White of the Human Eyeballs, and Other Colours is an exploration of Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours: an early 19th century book of hand-painted colour standards, with detailed elucidations from the Animal, Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms. Werner’s Nomenclature is a significant historical artefact, but also a reservoir for linguistic and semiotic revelations — a palimpsest of colour language.
The project is a response to its uniqueness. It consists of a series of interpretive essays, each of which uses the Nomenclature and its colours to discuss aspects of linguistic and chromatic representation, within the spheres of semiotics, art history, literature, and natural history — all of which overlap and interact in myriad ways on the pages of the Nomenclature. Amongst the avenues explored are: snow white and metaphor, the suffix –ish, flesh red/human skin, Charles Darwin’s voyage, and butterfly-wing blue.
Info
Info
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MA Degree
School
School of Humanities
Programme
MA Critical Writing in Art & Design, 2015
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Contact
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The focus of my MA research is colour as material and metaphor; as substance, signifier and semiotic conundrum. Other recent writings include: Dylan Thomas and insomnia; Roger Hiorns' secretions; drips; drops; white walls and windows; artists' things.Â
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Degrees
- BA English & Italian, University of Leeds, 2013
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Experience
- Co-editor of Albertopolis Companion, RCA Critical Writing in Art & Design, London, 2015
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Publications
- 'After Crystal Palace', Albertopolis Companion, RCA Critical Writing in Art & Design, 2015; 'White', Of and For Turner Contemporary: Writings on a Building, RCA Critical Writing in Art & Design, 2014; 'The White of the Human Eyeballs, and Other Colours', ARC #18 ~ Accent, 2014; ‘Field to Fashion’, Selvedge, 56, 2014; ‘The Secret History of the London Brick’, Londonist website, 2013