Michiko Fujiwara's "Color" Stories, Part 3: August – The Terracotta Hues of the African Earth
Terracotta, the Color of the African Earth
I once climbed Dune 45, a 300-meter sand dune renowned for its exquisite ridgelines, in the Namib Desert of Namibia, Southern Africa—the world's oldest desert.
The dune, viewed in the pre-dawn hour when the air still held a hint of blue, resembled a pyramid of terracotta. Indeed, human hands could never craft such perfect lines, blending grandeur with elegance. It was so magnificent that I found myself wondering if pyramids were perhaps inspired by this very beauty in ancient times.
With a sense of awe for nature, I ascended, step by step, feeling each grain of sand beneath my feet. On one side of the ridgeline, the sand began to sparkle in the nascent sunlight, its terracotta hue shifting towards a reddish apricot. If terracotta evokes the steadfast calm of "Mother Earth," then the bright, radiant apricot suggests a youthful exuberance.
From "Mother Earth" to youthful radiance, and back to "earth" as the day concludes——doesn't it seem like the cycle of a human life?
Still, to think that light could transform the scene so dramatically... While such changes might occur daily in our lives, Dune 45 offered a profound reminder of the sheer delight of nature: the ability to savor these subtle shifts, so easily overlooked, with a sense of wonder.
