Seeing the sound of cellos

I remember a discussion with a friend about a bottle of yellow bath foam she had just been given as a gift. As she passed it to me she said "It doesn't smell very yellow"... I smelt it and agreed, "no, it smells a lot more blue".

I still remember the look of utter amazement on another friend's face... blue smells?!

This was association rather than actual synaesthesia, which is a condition where senses are combined so that stimulation of one sense triggers a reaction in another. The idea of hearing smells, or tasting numbers is a fascinating one... so here's a glimpse of what the sound of a cello looks like


The image is by Marcia Smilack. She is an artist who uses her synaesthesia to create photographs of reflections... watching the moving water until she hears that the image is right.

It certainly seems to work, the images are beautiful. I think this one resonates because I can almost see the music myself.

Image © Marcia Smilack.
Used with permission.