Thank you for having me! My name is Jessica Brooks, and I am a painter with a rare sensory condition called Synesthesia. If you aren’t familiar, Synesthesia is a neurological condition in which a person experiences a sense crossover in their brain. Stimuli meant for one sense ends up involuntarily stimulating another. In my specific case, I have an intense sight/sound crossover – so when I HEAR music, I also SEE it and experience it VISUALLY. All of my paintings depict how I see different songs and albums as a person with Synesthesia. I am a painter who paints music.

Hi Jessica, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I am currently in the middle of a project that will take me an entire year to complete. Here’s a window into what I’m creating:

As a musician and lover of music, I have a large collection of vinyl records, many of which I inherited from my late father. My dad was responsible for exposing me to so much great music — classic rock, jazz, funk, soul. I decided I wanted to fuse this love of music into a painting project to honor him and his memory. I believe music has the power to unite us – across cultures, great distances… and in the case of me and my dad, even after we go. Each time I put on one of his records, I feel his presence. I hear his laughter. I see him air-drumming. It has been incredibly healing to take a brush to the canvas and create art that is coded with his memory.

And so, I began a project called “50/50/50” – Over the course of 50 weeks, I am moving through 50 my records and creating 50 paintings (one painting every single week). I’ve been documenting it on my social media channels, where I talk about each record every week (giving a mini music history lesson on each album) and show my painting process. I started in January, and will finish right at the end of 2024. I will also be taking the paintings on tour next summer and showing them as a complete art show in San Diego, LA, Chicago, and New York.

 

We hold a power as creators to awaken and activate something deep within the hearts of others – and within ourselves.

When I create, I feel that power in my body. An electricity. I feel it come through me, igniting every cell in my body. This feeling is the blessing and responsibility of my creator energy.

I love that I can create something from nothing; that I can alchemize blank space into a meaningful sensory experience for another person. That others are moved by what I create.

I love the curiosity it invokes. And the emotional response. Whether it’s, “Wow, I love this” or “I absolutely hate this”, I appreciate both. Good art makes you FEEL. It is impactful. Even if the impact is disdain. I consider any impact my art makes to be a success – a gift.