Initial Project Proposal-Senses and Translation Theme

My work is often connected to memory, emotion, and nostalgia, and I want to continue exploring these themes through this project. Senses and Translation focuses on how the five senses, sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste, can be interpreted and expressed through visual art. I want to explore how sensory experiences, including listening to music, can trigger memories and emotions, and how these feelings can be translated into something visual.

This idea began with a personal memory linked to my daughter’s hanging mobile, which played Clair de Lune by Debussy. I found the sound mesmerising and comforting; it was beautiful. Listening to it now brings a flood of emotions. The joy and worry of being a first time mum, the fear and pain I felt when I was wheelchair-bound after pregnancy complications, and the warmth of seeing tiny Eva with her big brown eyes. 

Many emotions are attached to this music: happiness, anxiety, loneliness, and love all at once.

Clair de Lune is tuned to 432 Hz, often called the “natural tuning” because it is said to vibrate in harmony with the Earth and the human body. The sound feels softer and calmer than the standard 440 Hz, creating a sense of peace and balance. This made me think about how sound can physically and emotionally affect us, and how all our senses have their own kind of frequency or rhythm.

Through this project, I want to make these invisible sensory feelings visible, to show how sound, touch, sight, taste, and smell can be translated into form, colour, and movement, and how intangible experiences can be made tangible through creative processes.

Materials / Media

I will mainly work with acrylic paint and mixed media, as I enjoy how flexible and expressive they are. I also want to experiment with other materials such as ink on wet paper and watercolour. I really love oil pastel because you can connect physically by using your hands to blend colours together. I may also use household emulsion to see how it reacts and layers with other materials.

I plan to bring in my previous screen-printing skills to build texture and depth, combining traditional and experimental methods. Photography will be used to capture sensory responses, including light painting on long exposure and moments that feel atmospheric or emotional, often linked to my children and family. I also want to explore using light and projection to express the parts of the senses that we can’t touch or see, such as atmosphere, emotion, energy, and vibration.

Processes

My process will focus on translating sensory experiences into visual form. Exploring how emotion and memory can be expressed through colour, movement, and texture. I want to find ways to show what is often felt but not seen. The physical and emotional responses that come from sound, touch, taste, and smell.

Key processes will include:

• Sound: Interpreted through listening to Clair de Lune and painting what I feel and see in my mind. Exploring rhythm, pattern, and texture. I may also allow vibration to create patterns using sand.

• Taste and Smell: Expressed through abstraction — what might it look like? Exploring shape and colour to capture atmosphere and mood.

• Touch: Explored through experimental mark-making and paint application to reflect physical feeling.

Rather than just using traditional brushes, I will work with non-traditional tools such as card, palette knives, my hands, and even my body to create a more physical connection to the work. This approach will allow me to work more intuitively, letting the process feel spontaneous and emotional. I plan to work on large-scale surfaces to give the senses room to move and breathe, translating my memory and musical connection into form.

Research

My research will focus on artists and ideas that connect to the senses and how they can be shown through art. I am interested in how sound, colour, and movement work together, and how emotions and memories can be triggered through what we see, hear, or feel. This research will help guide both the ideas and the visual side of my project, linking what I feelto what I create.

Some key artists I have started to look at:

• Wassily Kandinsky – for his use of colour and sound and the way he painted music.

• Janet Cardiff – for her sound installations that make you feel part of the space.

• David Byrne – for his ideas about how we experience music and how it moves through the body.

• Melissa McCracken – a synaesthesia artist who paints what she hears, turning songs into colour and shape.

• Gabriel Dawe – for his textile rainbow installations, turning the intangible into something physical.

• Pharrell Williams – a synaesthesia music producer known for his focus on rhythm, energy, and creative flow across different senses.

• Gerhard Richter – for his abstract work and the emotional movement in his painting style.

I am also interested in sound frequencies and healing tones, such as 432 Hz and the Solfeggio scale, which link back to my connection with Clair de Lune. I want to research how mathematics, rhythm, and vibration can be visualised through image-making, and explore how these patterns might connect to visual rhythm and energy in my work.

Timeline

Research (Weeks 1–3)

Continue researching artists and ideas linked to the senses, sound frequencies, and emotion. Collect visual references and make notes on how sound, colour, and movement connect. Listen to different music I am drawn to, including Clair de Lune at 432 Hz, and respond through mark-making and writing in my blog. I also plan to visit exhibitions and music festivals as part of my primary research to experience how sound, light, and atmosphere affect people in real settings.

Experimentation (Weeks 4–8)

Experiment with acrylic, ink, and mixed media to explore how sensory experiences can be expressed visually. Test different tools, such as palette knives, card, and hands. Use photography to capture moments that represent sensory responses and try light painting to explore atmosphere. Focus on translating sound, touch, and memory into texture and rhythm, in both 2D and 3D forms.

Evaluation (Weeks 9–10)

Review experiments and select the most successful ideas to develop further. Reflect on what worked and what could be improved, linking these findings to my research. Finalise and present a body of work that expresses sensory experiences and emotional connections through abstraction.

Conclusion

Through Senses and Translation, I hope to deepen my understanding of how sensory experiences shape memory and emotion, and how they can be translated into abstract visual form. These experiences will help me reflect on how art and music connect emotionally, and how I can use my own memories and senses to create work that feels both personal and universal.