ABOVE IMAGE: EnChroma volunteer Alan Distasio takes in PEM’s South Asian Art Gallery. Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.
On a crisp November morning, visitors gathered to embark on a colorful new experience.
Participants ranged from an Episcopal minister from Hanover, New Hampshire, to an illustrator dropping in from Beverly, Massachusetts, to a small business owner from Salem, and they shared something in common: colorblindness. These visitors were about to see the world—and the museum—in a new way.
As they settled in, Petra Slinkard, PEM’s Director of Curatorial Affairs and The Nancy B. Putnam Curator of Fashion and Textiles, welcomed the group and introduced the museum’s new partnership with EnChroma’s Color Accessibility Program.
“We often take color for granted,” Slinkard explained. “But for the 1 in 12 people assigned male at birth and 1 in 200 people assigned female at birth who experience color blindness, the world can look very different. That’s nearly 2,000 people right here in our Salem community who are impacted.”
She went on to describe how this program, the first of its kind in the region, will allow visitors with color blindness to experience PEM’s art in its fullest spectrum of hues. Starting November 14, visitors will be able to check out one of 18 pairs of EnChroma glasses at the museum’s coat room. The options include child-sized glasses — something that’s particularly close to my heart and that I’ll get to shortly — as well as frames designed to fit over prescription glasses.
EnChroma volunteer Daniel Fury takes in PEM’s South Asian Art Gallery. Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.
In PEM’s South Asian Art Gallery, a space known for its vivid reds, greens and oranges, the anticipation was palpable as volunteers prepared to try on their glasses for the first time. Several were deep in concentration as they lowered their glasses, and then lifted them again, rediscovering each detail in vibrant clarity. “So, this is how you guys see things!?” one marveled, while others were in disbelief as the colors seemed to “pop” with a brand new intensity.
EnChroma volunteer Daniel Fury takes in PEM’s South Asian Art Gallery. Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.
The EnChroma glasses’ lenses were doing just what they were designed to do: filtering specific wavelengths of light to make shades of red, yellow, green and purple more distinct and defined.
All this color talk is a topic of conversation that often crops up around my own kitchen table with our six-year-old son, who is color blind. There’s a mix of humor (“you think this is what color?!”) with a bit of consoling (the uneasy feeling that comes with needing classmates to help pick out his art supplies) and a two-way street of curiosity about how this may or may not impact his life in the long run.
Back in the galleries, each person shared stories about how color blindness had affected their lives — everything from fashion mishaps to a frightening memory of mistakenly driving through a red light.
The response to the EnChroma glasses was as varied as the participants themselves. Some immediately noticed the change; for others, it took a few moments to adjust. Yet for everyone, the experience was transformative in some way, as they took in colors that had previously appeared muted, muddled or washed out.
PEM’s Petra Slinkard in conversation with EnChroma volunteer Guy Collins. Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.
From across the room I could hear one volunteer exclaim, “It’s like seeing in high-definition!” Another joked to their spouse, “Now we’ll need to repaint the whole house!” Volunteers left inspired, eager to explore the museum and see the rest of their world in a new light.
PEM’s Petra Slinkard in conversation with EnChroma volunteer Guy Collins. Photo by Kathy Tarantola/PEM.
The sense of wonder was infectious. So, when the weekend rolled around, I knew just what to do: bring in my son to PEM to borrow a pair of EnChroma glasses and take a spin through the galleries. Just what did he think of it all? Let’s go straight to the tape:
Do you or does someone in your life experience color blindness? Check out a pair of EnChroma glasses during your next trip to PEM and begin to see the world from a new perspective.
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