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Color Makes Us Feel: A Photo Essay

Because I’ve spent too many years hiding from all things gray, literal and metaphorical.

Wendy Cohan
7 min readJan 30, 2020
Art Gallery in Todos Santos, Baja California, Mexico. Photo by Wendy Cohan.

Color theorists postulate that, as humans, we exhibit a tendency toward either chromo-phobia or chromo-philia — a fear of, or love of, color. For example, beyond “builder’s beige” or neutral whites, we’re all born with an instinctual preference for our own unique color palettes, or, not much color at all. Because colors, like scents and sounds, provoke an emotional response. They’re “charged,” in a way that makes us feel something, and respond accordingly.

How does the photo below make you feel? Happy, perhaps? The way you feel in the summertime? This glowing green-gold is the particular color I’ve recently chosen to feature in my bedroom, mostly because I don’t like to be cold. And I’m here to tell you it’s impossible to feel cold on a winter night, or a freakishly-windy day, when you have a soft, marigold-colored quilt keeping you warm, and reminding you that summer will come your way again — in every sense of the word. Wrapped in its warmth, I feel protected and ready. I am not waiting for anything. I am content.

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Wendy Cohan
Wendy Cohan

Written by Wendy Cohan

Author of character-driven women's fiction, short stories, and essays. Her contemporary romance, The Renaissance Sisters, debuted May 23, 2023.

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