Media

The First Color Is Red

A large-scale abstract artwork fills a gallery wall with a rhythmic grid of rectangular color panels. Soft yellows and earthy browns give way to muted greens, warm corals, vibrant pinks, and smoky purples, creating a flowing tapestry of shifting hues. The gently uneven edges and subtle variations in texture bring an organic warmth to the geometric arrangement, while sculptural works rest on low tables in the foreground.
Title
The First Color Is Red
Description
Sixty-three pages of hand-dyed paper by Christine Howard Sandoval, a member of the Chalon Indian Nation, blind-embossed with faint phrases in her Chalon Ohlone ancestral language. Rising across the wall in bands of color, the pages touch on plant medicine, Indigenous knowledge, and the harms of colonization. Shown in Weather and the Whale at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences, UC Santa Cruz, alongside her Fourth Person Singular.
Creator
Christine Howard Sandoval
Rights
Rights held by artist or creator(s)

Part of The First Color Is Red