A Welcoming Start

Hello all! My name is Fran Rowan and I have Synesthesia.

Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon where some of your senses will cross together. For example, in my case I can hear colors. When I listen to music, sounds, or talking I see abstract colors and shapes. This form is called 'sound to color synesthesia'. I have always had this ability but I have only known what it was called for the past few years. While living in England during high school I saw a documentary on the BBC all about Synesthesia and the different variations of it, and I was amazed to see that what I had known as my 'color game' growing up was 'Grapheme' or 'color synesthesia.'

With Grapheme/color synesthesia each number and letter of the alphabet has a corresponding color assigned to it. This number/letter and color NEVER change. The assigned colors will differ between Synesthesiacs. For example, to me the number '1' is yellow and the letter 'A' is red. In a later post I will crate a chart showing all my number/letter colors. I can also see colors when experiencing pain and other physical sensations. Apart from letters, numbers, sounds, and sensations, words also have their own colors. This is typically, at least for me, due to certain letters being 'dominant' in the word. For instance, to me 'F' is brown, so my name- Francesca, is primarily brown. The C's are yellow and show up quite strongly too. My name overall is made up of mostly warm colors. Brown, yellow, red for the A's, and orange for the N. R and E are both a dark blue and don't show up when I see or hear my name. Learning more about it and seeing that other people had it opened my eyes to what a gift it is to me. So I have decided to share my gift.

My plan is to start working on small scale paintings of songs that I listen to that activate my Synesthesia. I will also use this blog to show examples of what I see and experience with my Synesthesia.

Here are a few links to learn more about Synesthesia in general:

Wiki Page

The Synesthesia Battery

Information on the BBC documentary