My Summer of Dyeing Blue

This has been the summer of dyeing blue. The dye is under my finger nails, on the counter tops and on my toes when it splashed out of the bucket. Dyeing has reconnected me to my roots as I am the product of two bohemians who left the United States in the early sixties to live a simpler life in Greece. Childhood fashions consisted of small cotton tee shirts and dresses my mother, Myra, dyed for me.

Thirty five years later, my interest in blue dye led me to research how this color has been used throughout the world. When a friend introduced me to the music of Tinariwen, a group made up of the Tuareg people of northern Africa, I became interested in the blue used to dye their traditional turbans. The dye colors aided in my inspiration and understanding of some of the ways in which blue denotes a range of social customs, and class structures.

Above images: Dying Blue, Io Palmer, 2010, image by Frans Lemmens, image by Garrondo (Tuareg man)