Merette Uiterwaal (b. 1990, Amsterdam Zuid-Oost, Netherlands) is an artist primarily working with photography. Color blindness – a condition affecting only 0.5% of women in the Netherlands – provides her with a unique perspective on the world. As a color-blind individual, she experiences a limited color perception; where a non-color-blind person can distinguish a hundred shades of red, she sees only four, blending into brown, yellow, and orange. Colors appear as muted and grayish, akin to a red shirt that has faded after years of washing.

Uiterwaal's photographic style straddles the line between abstraction and figuration. Her work is often recognizable, but the movement and blur in her images transform it into an abstract experience. This blurriness serves as a metaphor for her color blindness, visually reflecting the distortion in her reality – the incorrect perception of color – in her work.

Her art explores the concept of seeing and not seeing color. What does it mean to experience the world differently as a color-blind person? How does this affect the perception of art when her visual experience differs from that of most viewers? Although the term color blindness is somewhat misleading – only 0.003% of people are completely color blind – her limited perception plays a crucial role in her artistic exploration.

The discovery of color through wearing a color-correcting lens in 2018 opened her eyes to a new reality. While the lens is not a perfect solution, it made her aware of the richness and complexity of color that she did not see without it. This visual difference inspires her to explore the boundaries of her color blindness and investigate how she can transform this limitation into an artistic strength.

Uiterwaal's work plays with perspective and creates alternative realities. By combining various media – from photographic techniques to audio, ceramics, and mixed media – she develops a visual language that investigates the understanding of color and the challenges of color blindness. Her art invites viewers to look beyond the surface and discover the (sometimes hidden) beauty of the world, challenging them to reconsider the depth and nuances of our visual experience.

You can also follow her on Instagram to see behind the scenes snapshots.