Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sarah Kraning. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Sarah , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I was born with a fairly rare neurological trait called sound-to-color synesthesia, or chromesthesia. This means that when I hear sounds, my brain automatically processes them not only as noise — but also as moving colors, shapes, patterns, and textures. The experiences are quite vivid for me, particularly when I listen to music. It’s a source of creativity for me, but also my biggest joy in life. I’ve always wanted to share my experiences with other people, and was disheartened as a child when I realized that other people couldn’t see the same colors that I saw. Before I realized this, I did what many synesthetes do — I talked about what I saw. “This song looks so BEAUTIFUL! Don’t you love the part where the twinkly stars come out??” I was met with vacant stares, light teasing, or comments about how “imaginative” I was. I learned to keep it all inside and not share the colors with other people anymore. But I never stopped wanting to share.

Synesthesia affects approximately 2-4% of the world. For something so relatively common, we are a long way from understanding and acceptance of it in popular culture. As a result, many synesthetes feel they must hide their experiences — or they don’t even realize they have it.

In 2021, kept inside due to pandemic lockdowns, I began to share my synesthetic art on social media, particularly on TikTok. I’ve always painted what music looks like to me, but primarily for myself. I didn’t share these paintings with other people, nor did I anticipate that other people would be interested. To my surprise, people seemed to respond to my artwork — but more than anything, they responded to the open sharing of the synesthetic experience. I received thousands of private messages from people who also have synesthesia, expressing relief that they saw themselves being represented, even if they felt afraid to share their own trait with loved ones. Like me, many of them had experienced ridicule, judgement, or lack of belief. So they learned to keep it inside.

My mission with my art is simple: to share the intensity of beauty within music, and to bring awareness and acceptance around the topic of synesthetic neurodivergence. Sharing my art has freed a part of myself that I kept hidden for decades, and it’s been overwhelmingly relieving to realize I can not only share this aspect of myself, but that it’s accepted.

We all have our own forms of divergence and difference, and there is so much beauty in that.

Sarah , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Sarah Kraning, and I’m an synesthetic abstract contemporary artist. I was born with synesthesia — a trait that causes me to experience sound as colors, patterns, shapes, and movement. For me, these experiences are most vivid when I listen to music.

I turn my synesthetic experiences into paintings, each one based on a song. I am self-taught and kept these paintings to myself most of my life. However, in 2021 I began sharing my paintings on social media (@sarahkraning on TikTok and Instagram) and was surprised by the response. Since then, I’ve painted hundreds of commission pieces — based on songs, voice recordings, and other audio that is meaningful for the person purchasing the paintings.

Sound and music has an indescribable power over us. It is deeply personal, spiritual, and healing. It is, to me, one of the most breathtaking and sacred elements of life. My body of work is a love letter to music.

With my work, I’ve had opportunities to serve as an advocate for neurodivergence awareness and acceptance. I recently co-published a theatrical work with development at NYU (“Soundscapes”), about a young girl with synesthesia and her journey to accept herself and what is natural for her. My hope with all of my work is to raise awareness not only about synesthesia, but about the varying ways we all perceive the world, and the beauty in life.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I built my social media audience accidentally. Over the pandemic, I was looking for creative outlets, and decided to share a few personal experiences about my synesthesia and artwork on TikTok (@sarahkraning). This was a bit of a strange choice for me, as I had barely shared my synesthesia with my friends and family. I assumed hardly anyone would see the posts.

To my surprise, people DID see the posts. In six months, my audience on TikTok grew to nearly half a million, with the synesthesia content gaining millions of views. I had previously created the paintings for myself and close friends, but now I suddenly had requests for commissioned work based on viewers’ favorite songs and sounds. Some were deeply personal — a voice memo of a loved one long passed away, a first wedding dance.

For those just starting their social media business, I’d offer some (seemingly cliche) advice: just be yourself and try new things.

The content that has worked well for me was not contrived or fancy. People on social media crave honesty, vulnerability, and exploration.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Many of us have heard the saying, “there’s no money in art.”

I certainly did.

Growing up, I always knew I wanted to be an artist. You could always find me painting, drawing, or performing. But the fear of financial instability in the arts – a theme taught to me by the world around – kept me from pursuing this. Instead, I got a degree in the sciences.

I’ve realized over the past several years that art is like any business. You can succeed, and you can find stability. Now more than ever, the artist is empowered with all of the tools of marketing at their disposal. Many of the most successful artists today are completely self-taught. Artists today can build their own businesses and own their creativity if they equip themselves with the right tools. I truly believe we can make the “starving artist” a trope of the past.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sarahkraning.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahkraning
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahkraningart
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/sarahkraning
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sarahkraning?_t=8WPHXhCKVkE&_r=1

Image Credits
Michelle Grace Hunder