Look Closer: Can You See The Colours?
September & October 2018

A painting on the Andrew Brownsword Gallery floor and wall at The Edge, Bath.

This piece was created in-situ for the Visions of Science Art Prize, an exhibition of works inspired by scientific phenomena as studied at the University of Bath. This piece combined Pi, an indicator in pattern formation, and personal experiences of Synaesthesia.

I have always held a fascination with numbers, for me they each have a distinct identity and are associated instinctively with a colour. Having discussed this with others I had found that some shared this link between numbers and colours, but I was surprised to find most did not. This made me curious, and led me to discover Synaesthesia.

Synaesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon in which the experience of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. Grapheme-color synaesthesia is one of the most common forms, where an individual experiences numbers or letters as colours.

This piece is made up entirely of painted numbers on the gallery floor and wall. Having decided to work only with numbers to make up the piece I used both Pi and my own personal experience of Synaesthesia to set rules and indicators to inform how the piece would grow.

During the creative process the numbers were experienced as colours, as if a palette to pick from - influencing the composition. The rules, reasons and colours unknown to the viewer acting as a reminder that we all see the world in different ways, mysteries to each other.

The use of tiny numbers as marks interweaves these two sciences, hinting at the multiple layers and complexities of science, our world and ourselves. The numbers adding into the idea that everything is a result of something else.