Bone Stories: synesthesia, neurodiversity, and anatomy in colour by CC Hart

Abstract:  Synesthesia, a union of the senses, is a perceptual phenomenon, and a part of the neurodiversity paradigm. Current studies illustrate that approximately 4% of the global population has one or more forms of synesthesia; the trait shows a high degree of heritability and begins in  infancy or early childhood. The vast majority of synesthetes have a  colour concurrent paired with their sensoria, with coloured numbers, letters, and words among the most frequently reported forms of blended perception. In conversations with my fellow synesthetes, I’ve become increasingly aware of the ways that cross-sensory experiences can be triggered by novel inducers. Synesthesia tends to defy the neat  boundaries established by neuroscience research. In my case, the colour I see with graphemes and lexemes gets transferred to grayscale radiography. Witnessing bright pink femurs, chartreuse humuri, and SLAP lesions the shades of flames are ordinary aspects of my workday. I print  radiographs and MRIs to paper, then apply mixed media to reveal the colorful bone stories embedded in my synesthetic understanding of skeletal anatomy.

Bio:  CC Hart, MFA, is a neurodiversity advocate, artist, author, and manual  therapist. Her senses are intertwined via synesthesia, a neurocognitive  difference, which informs her writing, her visual art, and her long  career in manual therapy. She is a founding board member of the International Association of Synaesthetes, Artists, and Scientists (IASAS) where she serves in the role of secretary. Her artworks have  been exhibited in Spain, Russia, Belgium, and the USA. CC is continuing  to learn how her divergent brain creates both opportunities and  obstacles, and she supports the argument that neurodiverse traits represent part of the spectrum of human somatosensory, intellectual, and  cognitive experience.

CC Hart is the winner of the CRSC/AIC 2022 SENSING COLOUR Award:

“For embodying relevance to the conference theme and encompassing design & aesthetic considerations” for her Poster presentation: Fifty Shades of Grayscale: orthopedic structures as perceived by a manual therapist with synaesthesia