Session June 2022
Aphantasia: Making Art Without a Mind's Eye
Imagine that you are sitting by the sea and close to the lapping waves. The sun is shining and the colours are getting warmer as sunset approaches. There is a bird flying over the water. When you think of this, how clear are the images that you see?
Someone with aphantasia (the inability to conjure visual images from imagination) would not see anything, while others see images almost as vividly as if they were actually there. Adam Zeman is Professor of Cognitive and Behavioural Neurology at the University of Exeter and has led the growing scientific interest in aphantasia. One of the early surprises coming from research, contrary to expectations, was the number of aphantasic artists the studies were uncovering. He was joined by acclaimed artist Isabel Nolan whose expansive practice includes painting, sculpture, textile-based media, installations and writing. Isabel and our moderator, Elina Cerla, shared their own experiences of what it is like to be an artist with aphantasia. It was a fascinating conversation between neuroscience and art where we delved into the realm of visual imagination and explored why we don’t need visualisation to make visual art.
