In what ways have this condition been visually represented?
One depiction of synesthesia is a short film by Terri Timely: Synesthesia (2009). Just over four minutes long, it begins with a quick reference to a common test used to study grapheme-color synesthesia in which the letter S can be quickly found in among a grid of 5s due to their difference in perceived color. The rest of the film is a surreal and exaggerated representation of synesthesia, showing many combinations of senses including sound to color and words to taste.
Visualization of music is the most commonly represented form of synesthesia. Another good example of this are the Michal Levy’s animations: Giant Steps (2001), One (2007), and Bach Dance of Harmony (2017). These represent how she experiences different songs with her synesthesia and feature colored shapes that move to the music. Another example is Chromo (2015) by Pasquale D’Silva, depicting what he sees when he listens to a song he made. Chromesthesia is also depicted through painting by Melissa McCracken. Each of her paintings represents a different song.
Synesthesia has been present in many pieces of artwork, film, and literature over the years, though generally not as a literal depiction of the genetic condition but rather an artistic use of mixing senses. For example, the film Mulholland Drive has been said to be synesthetic by Barker (2008), who wrote an article analysing it extensively. There was also an art exhibition in 2011 called Sensory Crossovers: Synesthesia in American Art, which featured artists like Georgia O’Keefe, Man Ray, and Jackson Pollock. However, “Whether individual artists in the exhibition had synesthesia, consciously adopted the metaphoric concept of synesthesia, or… had one or the other erroneously attributed to them [was] open for debate” (Adams). This is the case with most artwork attributed to supposed synesthetes. For example, Van Gogh is often thought to have been a synesthete, but because this can’t be proved his artwork shouldn’t technically be called synesthetic (when using that term to apply to the condition rather than the concept). Synesthesia is often used as a rhetorical device in literature, poetry, and music lyrics, especially through metaphor. Similarly, these are examples of a mixing of senses but don’t always refer to the condition. There are, however, some exceptions in cases when synesthetes are the creators. For example, Lorde uses her synesthesia to write songs, including Green Light, which subtly represents synesthesia in its music video (Sloat).