blindness and synesthesia

Terry Timely - photograph
http://www.territimely.com/art

I can't help but be fascinated by the experience of blindness. It is hard to comprehend that some people have no concept of what sight or color even is, when most of our lives revolve around this sense.

But unfortunately there is a sort of attitude of pity that is directed to those with the "condition", "handicap", or (worse) "disability" that is blindness. Pitying someone who does not experience life primarily through sight is a misunderstanding of the senses. For many who are blind, sound and touch provide a more hypersensitive experience of everyday life. And of course, many scientific studies have been done showing evidence that the loss of one sense heightens the others. (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/health/29real.html?_r=0)

This exploration of the senses led me to "synesthesia"....
[n. the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body.]

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHnnGHgeyC0

The ability to "taste" a color or "see" a sound might sound like some sort of drug reference, but the concept (and the video) challenge us to reevaluate our sight-dominated experience of the world. We can begin to question why we rely so heavily on sight. Does sight always represent truth? Is seeing really believing? As designers, we are aware that we have the ability to "create" images. In other words, a designed image projects a certain message to the world, but it is not always an objective or truthful message. The challenge is to rely less on sight and more on the multi-sensory experience.

The artist/director of the video, Terri Timely, has a website/blog in which an entire page is dedicated to weird photographs that make you look twice. They may appear to be mundane photographs at first glance, but force yourself to look twice and decide whether you accept that reality or not. Why would that particular photo have been taken? Sometimes, it might be just to make you aware of something you see every day but take for granted. http://www.territimely.com/art

Another cool article about "feeling sound": http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2011/06/03/feeling-sound