Dasha Pears's profile

Synesthetic Letters

Photography
Photoshop
Synesthetic Letters
Anna is red, and Mary is deep dark blue. Since I was a kid, I found it very easy to remember people's names and was very surprised when others had problems with it. Just because each name has always had a specific color, usually the color of its initial.
Naturally, I thought that everyone in the world had the same experience in their mind's eye: colored letters, digits, names of months, days of the week, etc. It wasn't until 3 years ago when I realized that no, not everyone was like that and what I had was a form of synesthesia—an extraordinary sensory condition that allows you to experience one of your senses through another. Some synesthetes hear, smell, taste, or feel music in color. Others taste shapes, and still others perceive written digits, letters, and words in color. This last one is what I and my friend and collaborator Jane Kristoferson have. It's also the most common one, known as "graphemic synesthesia."

So we see the world a bit differently. With this fun project, we want to share our experience with the world and try to remind people that there can't be just one "right" way of seeing things in this world.

Are you a hidden synesthete? Which color is your "A"? Researchers say that for most of us, it's red. 

This project attempts to show how we, two synesthetes, Dasha Pears and Jane Kristoferson, view the world and see letters in colors, sometimes attributing additional concepts to them. The work on the project lasted 3 years. We shot it across 2 countries and funded it ourselves (i.e. to say it was shot on a 9 budget).

Each shoot was preceded by an intense brainstorm session in cafes, sketching on napkins and other random materials, passionate discussions, personal and collaborative creative ups, and downs, as well as major excitement of anticipation of the shooting process.

The shooting was followed by a long and careful editing process, which in some cases resulted in the rejection of the materials shot. rethinking the whole concept of a letter and re-shooting it all over again from scratch.

On the way, we were supported by over 50 fellow creative professionals who loved the idea and decided to join the ride.
Synesthetic Letters
Published: