Light, water & colours
in the Americas
- An SRU workshop -
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts
University of East Anglia, Norwich
20 June 2007 (9.30 am - 5 pm)
The theme of the workshop concerned light and humidity as a means for exploring interconnected perceptual qualities experienced by people in ethnographic and archaeological contexts in the Americas. Weather conditions make an impact upon the world of perceptual experience. Participants considered aspects concerning the sun and moon as sources of radiant energy which, with water, circulate life-enhancing forces associated with brilliance, colours and other related sensorial phenomena.
The social and cultural contexts in which perceptual experiences are revealed to people were explored. Topics covered the constitution of perceptual experiences through the working of material substances (for example, textiles, stone and clay) and associated verbal practices in which colours are revealed and transformed.
Discussants: Denise Arnold, Warwick Bray
Organisers: Penelope Dransart, George Lau
Speakers (included): Elizabeth Baquedano, Colin McEwan, Ann Peters, Barbara Saunders, Nicholas Saunders, Pia Tohveri, Gary Urton.
Programme and titles of presentations
Convenor:
George Lau
In late pre-Hispanic times a dark cloud constellation in the Milky Way, including the fox (Atoq), was associated with the June solstice (Fox headdress ornament, Peru, Vicus-Moche style, AD 1-800, UEA 599)