Senses.... What shall I do?

Well, this I have found a very difficult topic to approach. The title "senses" leaves a lot down to personal interpretation. After having a think about it I decided that there was three main routes to take the first being depictions of the senses themselves the actuality of touching, smelling, seeing, hearing and tasting. the second route would be to look and sensory deprivation and how to body reacts when people have certain sense blocked, permanently removed or even all senses total sensory deprivation. The third route would be to look at Synesthesia and how in rare cases senses can merge and over lap, intruding upon each other.

I shall start with the second, Deprivation.

Sensory deprivation can work in many ways and on many levels some basic examples of sensory deprivation are blindfolds, earmuffs, hoods, masks or plugs. Sensory deprivation can be used for meditative  or alternative medicine in short bursts helping a meditator block out external influences but in extended or forced sessions sensory deprivation can cause hallucinations, anxiety, bizarre thoughts patterns, depression and even cause psychotic breaks

Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy (REST)


There are two basic methods of REST, chamber REST and flotation REST. Chamber REST, means lying on a bed in a completely dark and sound-proofed room for up to a whole day. Their movement is restricted by the experimental instructions, but not by restraints. Food, drink and toilet facilities are provided in the room and are at the discretion of the person undergoing REST.

In flotation REST, the room contains a tank or pool. The fluid in the tank consists of a skin-temperature solution of water and Epsom salts at a specific gravity that allows for the participant to float on their back without having to worry about drowning. Trying to turn over while in the solution requires “major deliberate effort.” Each session is normally around an hour.

REST has been successfully used to help ween alcoholics off alcohol. 

Sensory deprivation has also been used to aid torture and information gathering subjects are made to wear heavy goggles and ear protection and then during interrogation they are subjected to flashes, bright lights and loud noises which their softened senses are unable to cope with without subjecting them to pain.


Synesthesia, is condition where the boundaries between the senses blur and in some cases disappear. A Synesthete can literally see tastes and hear smells. For example a person with this condition may see certain number, letter or other character as a certain colour. For example in the image to the right. This is a matrix and if we were to look at the left hand image we would struggle to see the '2's hidden among the '5's yet a person with synesthesia may seen the '5's a different colour to the '2's.  Another example of synesthesia in action is the artist Carol Steen who herself has synesthesia. 

© Carol Steen Vision Oil on Paper 15 x 12-3/4 inches 1996

This is a painting of a "photism" or synesthetic vision she had during a session of acupuncture. 












































Senses


I don't really need to describe these do I? We all have them or at least most of them. This is the route I have decided to go it is very obvious but I am going to look for a slightly more obscure or abstract method of describing the senses visually.