I see colour in the written word. When I look at the page of a book, I see colours jumping up at me from the page as I scan the shapes of letters. Sounds and music have a colour which I can clearly see.
I know it sounds strange but I’m not alone!
Synaesthesia is a neurological condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. It is estimated that only a small percentage of the population experiences synaesthesia
When I was in my teens I mentioned the coloured numbers to my mum "You know '3' is red, and so is 'A'? I’m not sure whether she thought I was being daft! I was surprised to learn that most people don’t share this phenomenon.
Years later I found out that this is known as Synaesthesia, and that a small percentage of people experience it. I was excited to hear that I was not the only one seeing the names of friends, places, and telephone numbers in stripes of vivid colour. I remembered the word 'Synaesthesia (with its attractive combination of greens, red and pink) and when the internet came along I was able to google it and find out more.
At that time, nobody knew much about it. Recently there has been a lot more research. There is even an online 'test' that you can do to see if you have numbers/letters to colour’ synaesthesia, which is known as 'colour-grapheme synaesthesia' I took the test, although I already knew what the results would be.
Telephone numbers appear as a kind of colourful bar code. Sometimes synaesthesia makes it really easy to remember things. It can sometimes be confusing, particularly when words are printed in the wrong colour. My Tuesdays and Thursdays come as a pair, both being blue-grey, which can lead to mix-ups.
Friend’s names appear in colour, which can make it very easy or hard to remember! For instance, my Elaine, Helen and Wendys are all green, names which may lead to mix-ups. Barbara and Sarah are both red and black. I must write my shopping lists down so that I don’t arrive back with items memorised as a similar ‘colour’ that is not required.
I do enjoy being synaesthetic it gives me such a colourful and slightly chaotic life :)
I’m sure that my art is influenced by synaesthesia. I have a strong affinity with certain colours and use colours to perk up my mood or calm me down, depending on what I need. These are the colours that find their way into my work on any particular day.