The COLOR CODEX series — to which SEMIOVOX has invited 50 of our commercial / applied semiotician colleagues from around the world to contribute — explores the unexpected associations evoked for each of us by specific colors found in the material world. Vol. 1: 2023–24. Vol. 2: 2026–27.

In the summer of 2020, I painted ruthlessly. Processing without process, Covid’s lockdown cornered me into facing a part of myself I’d lived in fear of since I was a teenager. Up until that point, I felt I had successfully ‘gotten away’ with having PMDD (Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder). After all, the condition’s cyclical nature allowed me to feign normalcy during the times when it wasn’t trying to ruin my life. “I just wasn’t myself on those days when existing felt futile, but I’m totally fine now,” went the monthly narrative.

‘A more severe form of PMS’ is a common description that doesn’t quite capture the monstrous nature of PMDD. The extreme hormonal fluctuations that occur for around 10 days have a debilitating impact on everyday life. Your brain is plunged into a turmoil of anxiety, depression, and rage on repeat. Your physical and emotional sensitivity is acute, while your perspective is overwhelmed with gloom.

If PMDD was a colour it would be red. An icky and uncomfortable red. One that swirls you up into wild-eyed frenzies and chews away at your sense of self and purpose. If it were a sound, it would be a scream underwater. If it were a feeling, it would be a giant Chinese finger trap that tightens around every muscle of your body the more you try to pull away from it, a Boa constrictor on the brain. It smells of living death. It tastes like an uncontrollable binge of every negative emotion you’ve ever had.

Those of us with PMDD sometimes describe the days leading up to our period as the “Red Zone” or “Red Mist.” It was in the heavy fog of one of these cycles in the summer of 2020 when isolation peaked and PMDD Red spilled onto my canvas.

For me, living with PMDD means learning to work with it. The heightened sensitivity that is characteristic of the disorder has ironically lent itself well to the practice of semiotics and pattern recognition. I identify the patterns behind my own symptoms in a similar way to how I uncover patterns in culture. It seems almost absurd to think that the very condition that has tried to destroy my career has also helped me become very good at it.

PMDD is a painful reality for many, largely due to a lack of research and funding in women’s health globally. It is through sharing personal stories that we humanise individual experiences and add to our codex of understanding.

COLOR CODEX: Martha Arango (Sweden) on FALUKORV RED | Rachel Lawes (England) on DEVIL GREEN | Audrey Bartis (France) on KYOTO MOSS | Maciej Biedziński (Poland) on SKIN-DEEP ORANGE | Natasha Delliston (England) on MARRAKECH MINT | Whitney Dunlap-Fowler (USA) on RESURRECTION CANARY BLUE | Ximena Tobi (Argentina) on VILLA MISERIA BRICK | Aiyana Gunjan (India) on LETTERBOX RED | Lucia Laurent-Neva (England) on TEAL BLUE VOYAGER | Charles Leech (Canada) on STORMTROOPER WHITE | William Liu (China) on PINING GREEN | Ramona Lyons (USA) on GOTH PURPLE | Greg Rowland (England) on LAUNDROMAT FUTURA | Sónia Marques (Portugal) on RUNAWAY BURRO | Max Matus (Mexico) on CALIFORNIAN BLUE | Chirag Mediratta (Canada / India) on AUROVILLE ORANGE | Alfredo Troncoso (Mexico) on BORGES GLAUQUE | Josh Glenn (USA) on TOLKIEN GREEN | Clio Meurer (Brazil) on PARIS LUMINOUS GREY | Serdar Paktin (Turkey / England) on AMBIENT AMBER | Maria Papanthymou (Russia / Greece) on AGALMATOLITE WHITE | Sarah Johnson (Canada) on ARMY GREEN | Vijay Parthasarathy (USA) on ALPHONSO YELLOW | Tim Spencer (England) on ELECTRO-EROTIC COBALT | Adelina Vaca (Mexico) on MEXICAN PINK | Brian Khumalo (South Africa / USA) on STATUE OF LIBERTY TEAL | Madoka Suganuma (Japan) on BLOSSOM PINK | Susan Bell (Australia) on THAILAND TURQUOISE | Rajan Luthra (India) on AMALTAS YELLOW | Carla Moss (Austria) on EASTERN BLOC GREY | Dora Jurd de Girancourt (France) on JACARANDA PURPLE | Alexandra Ncube (England) on PMDD RED | Katrin Horn (Austria) on PIER BLUE | Ľudmila Lackova Bennett (Czech Republic) on BARBIE PINK | Onaiza Drabu (India) on MOHARRAM BLACK | Jiakun Wang (China) on GEN Z PURPLE | Manar R. El Wahsh (Canada) on FATIMID GOLD | Gianlluca Simi (Brazil) on TECH BLUE | Gemma Jones (Netherlands) on IN-BETWEEN INDIGO | Mariane Cara (Brazil) on IPANEMA GOLDGLOW | Su Luo (China) on CHILLI OIL | Jamin Pelkey (Canada) on KELLS CORAL | Cathy Maisano (Australia) on AUSTRALIAN SUNSET | Hyaesook Yang (South Korea) on TBD | Hibato Ben Ahmed (France) on TBD | Eugene Gorny (Thailand) on FLAMBOYANT RED | Elinor Lifshitz (Switzerland) on TBD | TBD on TBD | Iván Islas (Mexico) on MITLA YELLOW | Victoria Gerstman (Scotland) on CALPOL PURPLE.

Also see these global semio series: MAKING SENSE (Q&As) | SEMIOFEST SESSIONS (monthly mini-conferences) | COVID CODES | SEMIO OBJECTS | COLOR CODEX | DECODER (fictional semioticians) | CASE FILE | PHOTO OP | MEDIA DIET | TATTOO YOU (semioticians’ tattoos).