Inspired by Oliver Sacks’s book “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat”, this work was an attempt to visualize a completely different world observed by individuals under the condition of visual agnosia. It is a brain condition described as the inability to recognize objects visually either in an apperceptive or associative form. Although their visual perspective of the world was changed drastically, this doesn’t necessarily limit their ability to impact and enjoy the world with their creativity and talents. In this work, this equal potential in these individuals was represented in the form of musicality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To explore the concept of visual agnosia, I replaced every object surrounding the musician (including the cello) with an image of similar shape, texture, or color. The cellist’s body was portraited with colored solid parts to differentiate the stimuli an individual receives from their body and the world around them. A video further experimenting with this relationship between visual perception and musicality is also included.

Reference Photograph by Joël Vogt on Unsplash

Cello audio source: Aurore Dassesse – Suite for cello solo – Gaspar Cassadó