Colour & Emotion

University College Hospital, 2018

Colour & Emotion was the outcome of a collaborative and interdisciplinary research project related to colour and emotion funded by a UCL Grand Challenges: Human Wellbeing Award. The project was led by Jo Volley, Dr Nuala Morse, Nir Segal, artist and then Slade PhD student, and Dr Mickey Dean.

The broader aim of the research was to investigate the potential within colour to establish a non-verbal approach to measuring human well-being creatively. It brought together artists, a human geographer, a speech and language therapist and a group of adults with acquired communication difficulties (aphasia) in a series of co-production workshops in January-March 2017. Each workshop explored how colour can create a visual language for expressing feelings and emotions and from the results a Colour & Emotion Toolkit was designed and 5 prototypes produced. Accompanying the toolkit is a publication, Colour & Emotion Manual, which provides instructions for its use.

The exhibition held in the public gallery of University College Hospital showcased the toolkit, research conducted during the workshops, and included works by artists, who were involved in the project or in working with colour and human wellbeing. The exhibition ran from January 11 to February 21, 2018.

Exhibiting artists included Malgorzata Bany, Jin Han Lee, Grace Hailstone, Thomas Jenkins, James Keith, Caroline de Lannoy, Stephanie Nebbia, Nir Segal, Lesley Sharpe, Estelle Thompson, Jo Volley & Rob Welch.