The first color in senior Yi Jin’s rainbow is pink.
It’s a color of caring, he said. It’s soft and feels like taking care of someone and being cared for.
Jin, a social work intern at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services Office, is planning an event for Thursday at which participants can paint and learn about the GLBT office.
Jin will ask them to paint with any colors they want, he said.
After they’re finished painting, he’ll ask them one question: why did you use that color?
Different colors have different meanings, he said.
Sometimes when he paints and is feeling happy, he’ll use warm colors like red or pink.
When he’s feeling upset, he uses gray and dark colors, he said.
“I think color is an emotional language,” he said.
He said he hopes the participants will share a story about their life. He wants them to reflect on what they think and what they’re feeling while they paint.
The second color in his rainbow is red. It means passion, hope and strength, he said. It signifies bravery, and often people need to be brave to share their stories.
Jin is from Nanjing, China, and has been living in the United States for four and a half years.
During his sophomore year, Jin had to go back to China for a surgery, he said. He was in the hospital for a month and a half and had to take a gap semester from IU.
Jin’s father, who loves Chinese calligraphy, brought him paintings from famous Chinese artists while he was in the hospital.
The paintings and warm colors made him happy in a time when he was consumed by worry, he said.
“The medicine can treat your body, but the art can treat your heart and can treat your mind,” he said.
That was the first time he fell in love with art and color, he said.
As an artist, Jin said he thinks of red as one of the more powerful and passionate colors for him to use to communicate to his audience.
As a student of social work, he said he thinks of it as a warm color that means giving, change and hope.
“You can use color to relieve some of your life stress, so I think color itself has power,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to introduce the power of color to more and more students.”
The last color in his rainbow is purple. It’s between a warm color and a cool color, he said.
It blends passion and professionalism. It’s hopeful, but reminds him to calm down and take a rational approach to problems.
As a person who has the opportunity to study abroad and to see the world, Jin said he can gain deeper understanding of the places he visits.
He said the U.S. he has seen goes beyond the American dream he heard about in China.
Studying social work is a good opportunity to learn about a society and learn about the people, he said.
Doug Bauder, coordinator of the GLBT office, said intersectionality is important in connecting with students and Jin’s presence has reminded him of that.
Jin’s work there during the course of the year has brought more international students into the office than it had before, Bauder said.
Jin said in his work he is often helping people facing something dark, something gray — like homelessness, poverty and discrimination.
“Life is hard,” Jin said. “Life is very serious, but you will never lose your hope in your journey because you are the person who gave hope to lots of those in need.”
