My book is entitled SynaeScape - a sense of synaesthesia, and is a personal account of the ideas and responses I have had to the subject of synaesthesia, through my research and through my visual explorations and expectations. Given the abstract nature of synaesthesia I felt that it was more appropriate not to attempt to pin down or explain the condition in the work I produce but rather flow with that abstraction and subjectivity of experience. So to some degree I have removed the subject matter in a literal sense and tethered it to an autobiographical account of its discovery - in doing so I have moved the attention away from the subject and focused attention on my response to the topic. The book is as much a documentary as it is a document, an intuitive response to the information gathered and I have endeavored to capture my journey of discovery in its pages.
The cover uses thermochromic paper which reacts to the heat of the readers hands by changing colour – from a gloss black to shades of red, green and blue. It reacts immediately and hopefully sets the tone for the rest of the book in its engagement with the viewer and the way in which it underlines the personal nature of the creative work and the condition it describes.
Following is a small selection of sample pages from the book (it can be viewed in full in the movie clip above and I will also bring it with me to the next face to face day on October 15th)
The design of the book utilizes both paper and acetate in its make up and so the notions I have had since the start of the creative process in REV are being carried through – specifically those of layering views, altered perceptions, subjective individual views on the world, and of course engaging the viewer through the design – this I have addressed in the use of the materials, in the paper mechanics of the book and hopefully too in the writing itself. I have used acetate to produce layering and staged delievery of the message. And also to emphasise subjective views – where printed elements across layers of acetate interact with eachother in an expression of how different people can perceive the same information in very different ways or to underline the idea of layers of perception working in unison.
The lift up flaps on this page, for example, read " f sharp; pear; seven" and these refer again to the sensory mingling where the colour yellow that is being revealed underneath can also cross over to these other things - be they the sound of a note, a colour perception of a number or the taste of a particular fruit. These occur in the 'synaesthesia & memory' section of the book where I talk about the way that synaesthetes have extra hooks upon which to hang a memory trigger.
I have used folding and binding to provide alternative views. These are used in different ways throughout the book, but one device for example creates an envelope type effect where the page is folded back on itself and bound into the spine. My intention here is to communicate hidden aspects – whether they relate to memory or concealment of what lies beneath.
Also I have used die cuts which provide peep holes through to other pages in the book, and which also change how we read the visuals as they alter the context by revealing only part of the story, This could be interpreted as alluding to the non synaesthetes reality where we are not getting the richer more intense version of the world, my hope is these communicate too notions of altered views and perceptions.
I have used a couple of my SynaesScope images in the book also and below the image is used to enhance the communication on synaesthesia and its link to metaphorical thinking. The image is used to highlight the change in view from the literal where all can be seen clearly with the acetate set against the white background and then when you turn the acetate page there is a more metaphorical lateral view of it against the black background.
I also played with reflective paper to explore the communicative qualities in mirroring to express the impact of synaesthesia on emotions. I have used acetates extensively in this section too.
Elsewhere in the book, as you can see in the video, I have made use of the ampersand to allude to the richer more intense reality of the synaesthete – there is always more to their perception, everything is more intensified. In the spreads with the gradually increasing point size in the text I intended to communicate the idea of becoming more and more consumed by the volume of the research I was getting into and also it represents the overwhelming nature of the condition for some synaesthetes - like sensory overload. All these devices will combine to, hopefully, engage the viewer both physically in the use of the book and intellectually and visually in decoding the communication as they work through the book.
