What Yellow feels like
We have tried, and undoubtedly failed, to explain what Yellow is.
To know what it is, you have to be there, really.
On the other hand, we do know what it feels like. Here’s what people are saying, making, thinking, and feeling about Yellow.
What people are saying
A nourishing space
“It has been an oasis for me, a vital space in very tough times.”
“As the CEO of a start up and mother of a young family, my automatic reaction is that I don’t have time for something like this. Which is exactly why I need it. It helps me get perspective and reminds me what is most important.”
“Usually, when I turned up to the gatherings I was exhausted from work. You’d think that what I needed was a glass of wine and to do nothing. But in fact what I needed was a bit of Yellow. It’s like going out for a bit of fresh air. It wakes you up again.”
A playful space
“It’s like going for walk in a field with interesting people. It’s welcoming, curious, and fun. There’s always fresh input and perspectives.”
“Yellow is such a playful space – it is such a contrast to the heaviness of so much of my daily work.”
A space to sink into
“It is a space to think and to ask the deeper questions, without people staring at you thinking you're crazy.”
“It is prompting the kind of mulling over that is drawing out the themes and things that need attention, then giving me the space and the people to help properly kick the tyres.”
“At work, everything is very superficial. Yellow creates space for the deeper reflections on what is going on in the world.”
A space of disruption
“At work, I spend all day with a metaphorical hammer hitting nails. Then I come to Yellow, and it's like, ‘oh here's a teabag!’ ... It’s an oblique way of wrestling with issues that come up all the time, but looking at them from a different perspective.”
“It’s a break from my normal way of thinking and acting. ... It allows for more creative and lateral thinking, and applying that to my everyday life.”
A space of exploration and adventure
“There’s a big part that's unknown. We don’t know beforehand what's going to happen in each session. We need to be open-minded to what Rob and Alex have designed for the day … It's unknown, surprising, refreshing.”
“There is no objective, there is no goal. It’s just a journey. … It’s the kind of thing one should do because you are trying to have a richer sense of yourself and the world.”
“Even though it seems unrelated to my work and what I do, it always gives me a new perspective on those things… It’s unlocking open-mindedness in my brain.”
What Yellow looks like
Suminagashi embroidery by Amy Ryles
We invited Amy to create something inspired by her experience of Yellow and to share the process with participants.
As part of that she created the Suminagashi prints below.
She is using these to create the embroidered pieces.
Once they are done they will be circulated amongst participants (an idea inspired by the Kula Ring from the Trobriand Islands in the Western Pacific).
What Yellow tastes like
“Yellow is like oysters and mashed potatoes.”
“Oysters, because it’s so exciting when you open an oyster. It feels like a bit of a commitment. But then, with a little bit of effort, you get there and you open it up. You don’t know exactly what kind of shape it is, or how it’s going to present itself. There’s a bit of grit. It’s salty. But it’s also the most luxurious, indulgent treat.
And mashed potatoes, because it’s the most comforting, sustaining, nourishing, warming, lovely, always-and-forever place to be.”
“Yellow is a buffet.”
“Sometimes it’s salty, sometimes it’s sweet, sometimes there’s something unusual there you haven’t tried before, sometimes there’s your favorite food.”
“Yellow is a Swedish bondomelett.”
“It literally means a farmer’s omelette, or what in English is a kitchen sink omelette. You throw in what you have at home, because that’s the only thing you have.
Here, in Yellow, we have us. We contribute with a bit of saltiness and acidity and sweetness, and it all comes together nicely. Importantly, it doesn’t make you too full.”
“Yellow is like a cup of tea.”
“It’s like a nice warm cup of tea. It’s comforting. … But other times it’s like a shot of energy drink. Or a nourishing, healthy smoothie. It is what you put into it and where your mental state is.”
If Yellow were a movie
“Humans are built to learn. The all too common idea that learning is something that requires professional guidance and state-sanctioned materials is profoundly misguided. … Your mind does not need to be coerced to learn—learning is its natural state.”
Zachary Stein
