Rainbow Permutations
Rainbow Permutations
The rainbow is one of the oldest and most universally loved symbols, representing hope, unity, inclusivity and wonder. Rainbow Permutations takes the rainbow's familiar seven concentric bands and rearranges them to answer a singular question: how many ways can a rainbow's colour sequence be arranged?
Working with the set of seven coloured arcs – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet – I rearranged the natural colour sequence to generate all 5040 possible permutations of a rainbow (7 × 6 × 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1, or 7-factorial). Using the Steinhaus-Johnson-Trotter algorithm I created every unique arrangement without repetition. Each colour permutation is rendered precisely using CMYK printing, so that every print is generated as a genuine one-off rather than a reproduction or multiple.
In Rainbow Permutations, the seven colours never change, but their order does. This alone is enough to transform how each rainbow is observed and enjoyed. In the original rainbow, one colour transitions into the next in a familiar pattern. By disrupting this sequence, new pairings emerge. Some are harmonious, some more jarring; all are unique and surprising. Nothing about the production is left to chance: every permutation has been generated by a fixed, deterministic process. The only uncertainty is for the collector, who commits to buy a print without knowing which of the 5040 sequences they will receive. Chance enters the project only at the point of ownership, never at the point of creation.
Please visit www.rainbowpermutations.com
