Happily Misunderstood

A friend of mine was stuck on ways to communicate a new take on ‘fresh’ without resorting to showing flowers or waterfalls, this lead us to wonder how we truly experience our senses. Are sensory experiences always that separate? What makes up a sensory experience?

Synesthesia is a neurological condition where one sense is experienced though another. Someone with this condition might be overwhelmed by a particular smell in response to hearing a particular sound, they might describe middle C as having a ‘earthy smell’. Others experience a certain colour when they see written numbers, 7 is often yellow apparently. Whilst we might use synesthetic metaphors, like calling a shirt ‘loud’ and Monday ‘blue’, people with synaesthesia actually have involuntary cross model experiences. Given the relatively low incidence of synaesthesia, it is surprising that quite a few artists have the condition, from David Hockney to Stevie Wonder, it seems being able to enjoy experiences in the ‘wrong’ sense maybe a blessing, rather than a curse. The video below is an interesting interpretation of what is might be like to be a true synesthetic:

http://www.territimely.com/_/v/2-short-films?video_id=34

Video belongs  to Teri Timely (http://www.territimely.com)

Back to fresh. There may be some really interesting and unexplored areas of communicating sensory experience. Considering the ‘feeling’ of the sensory experience you’re trying to describe, and expressing it though a different sense could lead to some really interesting work. Maybe by taking something we associate with ‘fresh’, like a new sunrise, could be expressed through a different sense. What does sunrise smell like?