Marcia R. Smilack, PhD

Reflectionist

EDUCATION

SPECIAL RECOGNITION IN PHOTOGRAPHY

DOCUMENTARY FILMS

MAGAZINE ARTICLES

NEWSPAPERS

BOOKS

LECTURES & PRESENTATIONS

IN PERMANENT COLLECTIONS

RECENT EXHIBITS & INSTALLATIONS

WRITING EXPERIENCE

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

I grew up in Bexley, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. After I received my BA from the University of Wisconsin, I attended Brown University where I received a PhD in English Literature. I taught at Brown as a Teaching Assistant for seven years and continued to teach literature and creative writing at colleges in the Boston area. At the same time, I began to write feature stories for the Boston Globe and other publications. As a result, I was invited back to Brown University for one term as a Visiting Professor of Journalism.

In 1988, I acquired my first camera. I had decided to take a break from teaching to write a book and had moved to Martha's Vineyard where I was living in the fishing village of Menemsha. The cottage I rented had a study with a view of the harbor; and while I often tell people that I became a photographer because of writer's block, the true answer has more to do with what I saw through that window.

I was working on a book about the Vietnam War which I found to be a very depressing topic, so I looked forward each day to my one reprieve which I saw arrive through my window: at 4:00 p.m., the fishing boats return to the harbor with their catch of the day. I was mesmerized by the red buoys on board the boats. At that time of day, with the sun shining directly on them, a powerful set of reflections is produced that elicits a sound I can only describe as that of a siren -- not a loud annoying siren, but a Siren like the ones in Ulysses -- a sound that neither he nor I could resist.

I grabbed my camera and walked down to the harbor where I took my first photographs of red buoys. I snapped when I heard the sound of red. I noticed that reflections on the surface of the sea stimulate my synesthesia. I found myself literally unable to keep my lens above sea level; I'd try to take normal pictures but before I knew it, I'd be aiming below, down at the water no matter what my intention. I felt positively compelled to document, in photographs, the source of those synesthetic responses though I didn't think of it in that way at the time.

I knew that I had no choice so surrendered to what I think of as my "have to": the same internal voice that had told me from earliest childhood what and how to write now commanded me in this new medium, to regard my synesthetic responses as reliable signals for when to click the shutter. They have never let me down. I used synesthesia to teach myself photography. I would shoot a picture whenever I heard a chord of color -- which, for me, is not a metaphor but the way I perceive the world. I named myself a professional Reflectionist (a word I made up) when I chose to ignore subjects above see/sea level and focus my attention and camera on the reflected version, which for me, better matches the way the experience feels.

My first exhibition was held in 1993. Since that time, I have had several solo exhibits. My photographs have been/are shown in galleries, profiled in articles, featured in films and two books. Author Patricia Duffy devotes a chapter to my work in Blue Cats and Chartreuse Kittens. My art work is featured in three documentary films -- the first one focuses on how I use dreams in my work while the others show how I use synesthesia to create my Paintings by Camera. If you are interested in reading the articles or viewing the documentary films, I will gladly make them available.

I have become a professional speaker on the subject of my work and how I use my Synesthesia. I combine a slide presentation with a detailed explanation of which synesthetic response was responsible for which image. I sometimes add a short film at the end in which I match music to my images, the reverse of how I take the images but then, my synesthesia works in both directions: