Colour D
Liadin Cooke 2011

I see language in colour. It was not until I was in my mid-thirties that I realised this was unusual. I assumed that everyone saw E as a sort of pale yellow or that W was a dark brownish green. Probably this is why I am so interested in language as more than a method of communication - it has a physical entity that is not about the form of a letter or its sound.

A few years ago I realised, to my dismay, that my sense of colour was changing. I no longer see it as clearly as I used to - the tonal subtleties are fading and I find myself now using colour to fix a text or an idea in a way that was not previously necessary.

Colour D is a sort of memorial / ornament made up of my piled-on internal language. Its pale bluish grey mimics a fading D in my head. Resting on its side - perhaps toppled over or maybe no longer able to stand, its green felt base signifies an obsolescence or purposelessness. The heft of the bronze I have used to make the work tries to fix the colour down.