Not belonging to the island of Curaçao, my view of the nation is one from personal observation. My first observation is one of diversity. I have met people from various parts of the world who have all moved to this small island and now call it their home. Curaçao as a young nation is also facing its share of social, economic and political problems at the moment, but its people, like the local language, are a harmonious mix of small parts from all over the world that by necessity have adapted to change and come together. Nelson Mandela once said “none of us acting alone can achieve success” while addressing his nation of divided people; but by forgiving its past and embracing the unity of what he called the Rainbow Nation, he was able to guide the transformation of his nation successfully. The success of Curaçao as a young nation lies in its people of diverse backgrounds being able to strive together in overcoming adversity.
RAINBOW NATION
My interpretation of this diversity and coming together in unity is formalized in the use of White Light. White is the color the human eye sees when looking at universal light, namely the sun. However, what we are really seeing is all colors of the spectrum. By using a prism to dissect the color band, we see these distinctions in the form of a rainbow. Hence all colors in the spectrum are in fact their own form of light collectively appearing as “white” to the naked eye. A combination of primary and secondary colors contribute to the spectrum of light. In the same way, a combination of primary and secondary immigrants contributes to the spectrum of people that exist in each nation. Understanding the importance of this breakdown of color working together, Nelson Mandela used his words as a tool to expose how all the racial colors of South Africa could come together to create the Rainbow Nation. Playing with the concept of light, primary and secondary colors in my composition intersect and intertwine themselves, bending at different angles the way a beam of natural light would through a prism, harmoniously working together in a rainbow of colors. Similarly, by embracing the diversity of this new nation, Curaçao is transforming from its constrained past into a dynamic future, from rigid straight lines to a more free flowing society as it intertwines both compositions of its past and present together.