Seeing faces

Seeing faces

On my walk into college each day, I pass this tree, and every time I see a face within it. From this angle it appears almost like a side profile, formed naturally by the knots and textures in the bark. I am drawn to it because I tend to see faces in many patterns I look at, often taking on a fantasy or slightly unsettling quality.

I have been able to do this for as long as I can remember. As a child, I was terrified of my nan’s wooden wardrobe. I would close the door quickly so I did not have to look at it when walking past her bedroom. I could not have been more than five years old at the time. The shapes and patterns in the wood felt alive to me, almost watching.

This ability makes me think about people who experience synaesthesia, where the brain naturally connects things in unexpected ways. While this is different, it makes me question whether seeing fantasy faces in everyday patterns is something similar. Rather than something to fear, I now see it as a strength, a heightened way of observing the world. Perhaps this way of seeing is my own kind of superpower.