I don't think I'd want any of those colors on my wall however. I chose a paint chip one time from Lowe's that was called Indian Summer. The painted result reminded me of flesh and I couldn't look at it without feeling a little nauseous.

I like this concept. There are so many shades of skin that it always seemed bizarre to me to lump some of them under a colour category (black, white, etc). We so cautiously name wall colours and find the right shade for paint, but give little regard to our own flesh. Breaking down racial borders/stereotypes is so important, but often I hear people say "I don't see the colour of people's skin", while I understand what they mean, we also don't want to forget that individuals have their own special hue, and that it is not only unique but incredibly beautiful.

Or you could just slightly change the hue of the skin tone in Photoshop to match the Pantone colour.

I don't understand when people say they "don't see color". I sure as heck do! Do i JUDGE because of your color?? No. But I grew up in a place where it meant EVERYTHING to those around you.
That aside, i love this idea. I REALLY wish the makeup companies would delve into something like this. I find it soooo difficult to find the proper shade.

Since race is a construct of power, seeing skintone as color and as art is lovely.

Seeing this post popped this memory into my mind: When I was little I had a Little Orphan Annie color by number that came with a pack of colored pencils. There was a light peachy colored pencil labeled "flesh." When my brother used it and noticed it wasn't the same color as his skin (brown) he started to cry.

Thorndale: There are TWO 'honkies'.

When my daughter was little, she said her best friend was chocolate. I asked her what she was and she said butter. We're a little food-centric.

@Michael W. I agree with you about fleshy paint colors, although I used Chip It! to see what they'd be and it was amusing: Appleblossom, Renwick Rose Beige, Caribbean Coral, Cavern Clay and Orchid.
http://letschipit.com/Books/fXYOC0

Pretty!

That grouping skews so heavily toward (racial class, not ethnic) white! There is a huge, rich, interesting range among black skin tones alone. It would be illuminating to display a larger number of the chip/photo shots by percentage of world population. You'd get well into the browns, I believe.

This is really awkward-looking.

Of the 150 subjects currently featured, I count only about 15 who seem to be "POC" (quotation marks because, clearly, we're all people of "color"). Hardly all the colors of the rainbow.

I like. Of course I look forward to the addition of more POC as this project grows.

This is a great idea. I think it would be great if someone created an app/website so people could submit photos and eventually amass a huge collection of these from all over the world. It wouldn't be hard to create the software/app, and what insight the vast collection would give us!
Love this. Thanks for this great post.

I noticed the large number of light-skinned people, too, and wondered if she was progressing chromatically through the spectrum, working her way towards darker skin tones. Anyway, I think the project itself is a really cool idea--a sort of grown-up version of the "colors of us" projects that my son's preschool does.

It is interesting to note that the Photographer is not white herself. I imagine she is taking these photos in her native Brazil of the people that she is generally surrounded by.

@emilyryz - Right, one has to remember the cultural context. Brazil is a culturally diverse country with a lot of different ethnicities represented. Brazil has a long German heritage, so it makes sense that some of these people may be Brazillian but look slightly more Germanic.

Lots of German, Portuguese, Carib, Mezo Americans. If you've never been to Brazil, you have yet to see the most beautiful people you will ever see.

I'm norwegian by ethnicity, and I don't find "honkies" offensive. I think it's silly, but not offensive....makes me think of those "Honker" muppets on Sesame Street.

At any rate, a cool project !

@heypielady:

Your brother sounds like me when I was a child. I have a warm olive skin tone which tans very easily so I loathed art supplies and bandages that claimed to be flesh colored.

I like this a lot. Lovely people, but as someone else said, it would be nice to see some darker tones of brown which are gorgeous and varied. And some people with more reddish skin, both on the light and dark end of the spectrum.

Under "About" on the project page it states: "The project’s objective is to record and catalog all possible human skin tones." I'll go ahead and guess that it's a work in progress, and largely defined by those who volunteer (i.e. if mostly white-ish people volunteer, then it's difficult to display that diversity).

It's amazing how...pink!...the colours skew!

This could have amazing applications for the makeup industry (for matching foundations, concealers etc).

When I read the title I thought "there's a paint called Pasty?"

That's funny 2kidsandus, although there probably is!

I love this idea and wish it would catch on socially. Since my early childhood, I have felt the terms black, white, etc. used to define us all are absurd. How nice would it be if black, white, red and yellow were only used to describe things that really are those colors, as I have yet to meet a single human who is.

This seems identical to Byron Kim's Synecdoche, installed in the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art: http://www.nga.gov/press/2009/byron_kim.shtm.

Creepy nonsense!

I think this is beautiful, and I think it makes all of these folks look fantastic.

I find this fascinating -- would love to see the whole set and match my own skin tone. I've made polymer clay dolls, and suitable clay comes in maybe three pre-mixed colors, after which you would have a lot of room for modification. A set of these chips might be really useful for artists who make dolls or paint portraits.

I think that last guy is re-enacting scenes from Cast Away.

I was working on an archaeological excavation in college and we used the Munsell soil color chart to compare our skin color, it was pretty fun ^_^

Eastofdillon: It's interesting that you see 15 of these people as people of color. I see many more than that. I've had the experience where white people assume people are white when they're not, and it's a challenge for people of color with lighter skin. It can be really uncomfortable to have people assume you are part of a group you're not (e.g., that you have grown up with "white privilege" when in fact you're often treated very differently than that) and it's rather painful to have people dismiss, with just a glance, large parts of what make you who you are.

I've long thought of myself as pink with green and blue stripes and brown polka-dots. Not white at all. Sorry. Hope the next comment is more enlightening. Hmm.

This was a very interesting post to read - but even more interesting are the comments.

While this came out in July, this month Pantone introduced the Pantone SkinTone Guide - profiling 110 real skin tone shades. Any check those out yet?

http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone.aspx?pg=21046&from=hp