During the walk, HPU members perambulated through the Hamilton Farmer’s Market with a rough map in hand. Their task was to document the different “scents” they smelled within the market using words associated with another sense modality.
Synesthesia is a literary device wherein the writer uses words associated with one sense modality to describe another eg. “loud yellow” (aural/sight), “burning silence” (haptic/aural), “bitter cold” (taste/haptic), “piercing fragrance” (haptic/smell). Lots of poets use synesthesia as a literary technique in their writings – notably, Baudelaire who was also one of the friendly flâneurs!
Synesthesia is also a psychological “pathology.” Members of the HPU are not trying to become synesthetes. We are interested in finding new ways of using language to describe place.
The participants found this task difficult, but fun. Several noted “sensory overload” part way through the walk.
