Foto©Jorit Aust

Phonics for synaesthetes

Color is symbolic and often socially-coded, and although it is widely accepted that human visual perception differs depending on cells in the retina, we all agree that green is green, and the grass is green, and blue is blue and the sky is blue; we agree that the sky is not green and the grass is also, not blue. We agree even though we likely do not see the same colours, in fact, our individual eyes see slightly different colours.
Synaesthesia is a neurological condition that causes an individual to know certain stimuli to have certain colours, forms, sounds, textures and flavours, but how subjective, objective, or arbitrary are these associations?
Poured through Chloë’s sieve of subjectivity, "Phonics for synaesthetes" considers a method of language learning through reproducing color and gestural form following canadian english pronunciation. The installation comprises a video, ciphers, and paintings, which borrow titles from Nelson Henricks and Joan Mitchell.

Chloë Lalonde, born 1997 in Tiohtiàke/Mooniyang/Montréal, Canada/Turtle Island, specialises in material culture and sustainable art education, having received their BFA in Art Education and Anthropology from Concordia University in 2021. Interested in labour, language, mediums and matter, Chloë engages with slow painting and performance drawing in a circular art practice.

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