ilka

Graphene Synesthesia is a condition in which one’s senses become crossed e.g. words, letters of the alphabet; numbers etc are associated, in the case of graphene synesthetes, with colour.  Synesthesia is the key concept to my work. By creating my own alphabet of colour I used this alphabet to translate a novel, letter by letter into colour.  The novel is entitled ‘Haroun and the Sea of Stories’ written by Salman Rushdie.

 

The novel is significant in its layering of meanings as well as the use of imagery and descriptions using colour, “Rashid had often told Haroun about the beauty of the road from the Town of G to the Valley of K… a vista of the Valley of K with its golden fields and silver mountains and with the Dull Lake at its heart”. (Rushdie 1990:34) Debatably the most important theme in ‘Haroun and the Sea of Stories’ is the theme of freedom of speech. This theme contributes to my work in that my work hopes to broaden the idea of freedom of expression and the basics of communication.

 

According to Post- Modern theory an artwork is a text, which implies that it can be read and indeed through Semiotics an artwork can be read. My work plays with this idea of art as text and colour as a metaphor for emotions. Willem Boshoff created a work entitled ‘Skynbord’ in which he exhibits “324 cards, each composed of 16 colours” (Siebrits 2007:50). According to Boshoff this work is a dictionary, a dictionary of colour rather than text although the names of the colours are written underneath in microscript.

‘Skynbord’ is therefore similar in many ways to my work except that I translated text directly into colour which means that with the correct colour codes the artwork/ text can be read and a story will appear.

 

I also interlinked some of the pages from the novel with protest songs from different times and places addressing various different issues. In fact I present the viewer with the key. Each protest song contains a word which is found in the book. This word is then masked with colour, however the letters still shine through. By finding the correct colour pattern in the coloured book/text, the viewer is able to unlock those colour letters. I use 12 protest songs. 12 Is significant because there are 12 chapters in the book. This means that there are 12 different words to find. Only five letters of the alphabet are missing, but by using all the others that the viewer is given, one can translate the entire text/book back into words.

 

 Mondrian and Kandinsky are both believed to have worked with synesthesia through music. Willem Boshoff created a series in which he displayed South African protest songs from the Apartheid era entitled “ABAMFUSA LAWULA – The Purple Shall Govern “. This links my work back to three artists as well as a different type of synesthesia. It also relates to the theme of freedom of expression as well as creating an intertextual relationship between the text translated into clolour and text using similar themes and words. My work is therefore layered in meaning and it is also expected of the viewer to have his/her own history and views to add more meaning to the work.