on Ray Kajioka

I cannot definitively determine whether I have ever experienced synesthesia in its clinical sense. My sensitivity to relationships between color, form, texture, language, and sound may be the result of neurological cross-sensory perception, years of Montessori-inspired and liberal arts education, deliberate creative practice, or some combination of all three. Whatever their origin, these associations have become an authentic part of how I interpret the world. Rather than treating these perceptions as something extraordinary, I choose to receive them as a gift. Any ability I have to recognize, organize, and communicate them comes ultimately from God.

German techno producer and DJ Ray Kajioka's 2016 album, Consistency, became the main catalyst for my Pillars He Built project. Instead of approaching his record through the lens of music theory or production techniques, I listened with the intention of documenting perception itself. Each composition became an exercise in translation: sound into color, rhythm into geometry, repetition into texture, and movement into symbolic language. The resulting diagrams are not intended to explain the music. They are visual transcriptions of an internal experience.

My work attempts to describe this internal listening architecture, which cannot be conventionally notated. However; through repeated listening sessions, I faithfully recorded, with closed eyes, my perceptions. Words or numerical structures appeared to accompany particular passages. Fields of color recurred. Beginnings and endings became bleaker and brighter. 

Over time, Consistency became more than the name of an album. It became a personal pillar. I’ve learned to return before certainty, that dedication gives consistency its purpose, and diligence gives dedication its form.

Everything begins by beginning. Often.