Author Interview Kory Stamper | True Color

Author Interview Kory Stamper | True Color

From Who Arted: Weekly Art History for All Ages by Kyle Wood

March 30, 2026 · 57 min

About this episode

Kyle Wood interviews Kory Stamper about her book True Color and the complexities of human color perception.

This week, I got to talk to Kory Stamper, author of True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color, exploring how color is a complex intersection of physics, physiology, and psychology. Human color perception is defined not just by wavelengths of light, but by the brain’s interpretive processes using specialized cells in the retina known as rods and cones. While rods detect light and dark, three types of cones are responsible for firing in response to specific wavelengths, which the brain then blends into the visible spectrum. Linguistics plays a vital role in this experience; studies of cultures like the Himba tribe in Namibia suggest that the specific terms available in a language can influence how quickly an individual differentiates between hues like blue and green. Research on infants even suggests that color recognition may trigger the brain’s language centers before the visual cortex, indicating that the human experience of the spectrum is deeply tied to the need for categorization. Find more information about Kory Stamper and her book, True Color at https://korystamper.com/true-color/ Buy the book on Amazon or wherever you get your books. Be sure to vote…

People in this episode

Host: Kyle Wood

Guest: Kory Stamper

Topics covered

  • color perception
  • linguistics
  • psychology
  • physics
  • physiology
  • cultural studies

Keywords

  • color
  • perception
  • linguistics
  • Himba tribe
  • psychology
  • physics
  • physiology
  • True Color

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Airwave Media

Books & works: True Color

Places: Namibia, Himba tribe

More episodes of Who Arted: Weekly Art History for All Ages

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Who Arted: Weekly Art History for All Ages podcast page.