{"id":18076,"date":"2022-02-01T13:05:06","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T09:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/?post_type=articles&p=18076"},"modified":"2022-04-23T13:06:57","modified_gmt":"2022-04-23T09:06:57","slug":"see-same-different-perceptions","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/articles\/see-same-different-perceptions\/","title":{"rendered":"DO YOU SEE?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Grazia
Satin Ruffled Jacket, Satin Flared Trousers With Ruffled Detail, MARLOU BEULLS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

CREATIVE DIRECTION MARNE SCHWARTZ & DAN\u00c9 STOJANOVIC<\/strong>
\nPHOTOGRAPHY PAUL MOREL FASHION DIRECTION ANNA CASTAN<\/strong>
\nHAIR ANA RODRIGUEZ MAKEUP CHIARA GUIZETTI<\/strong>
\nMODEL SHAHED ELNAKHLAWY \/ W360 MANAGEMENT WORDS BIANCA BONAMI<\/strong><\/p>\n

When is a cloud not a cloud? When it\u2019s\u00a0a dragon, or a horse, or a tree. Differing\u00a0perceptions of the same shape is one of life\u2019s\u00a0great oddities. It is an act that unites us\u00a0in a shared experience and divides us in a\u00a0disparate reading of it. Two friends looking\u00a0at the same cloud will see<\/a> different forms\u00a0within it \u2013 a dog, a dancer, a fish gasping\u00a0for its last breath. Both sets of eyes focus\u00a0on the same white billowy mass but more\u00a0often than not perceive it as different objects\u00a0entirely. It\u2019s a peculiarity that feeds into\u00a0artistic expression and creation and delves\u00a0into the heart of the human condition itself.<\/p>\n

For Leonardo da Vinci, these differing\u00a0visual perceptions were the enlightening key\u00a0to overcoming artist\u2019s block. He suggested\u00a0looking for inspiration in unlikely sources.\u00a0\u201cIf you look upon an old wall covered with\u00a0dirt, or the odd appearance of some streaked\u00a0stones, you may discover several things like\u00a0landscapes, battles, clouds, uncommon\u00a0attitudes, humorous faces, draperies, etc,\u201d\u00a0he said. \u201cOut of this confused mass of\u00a0objects, the mind will be furnished with an\u00a0abundance of designs and subjects perfectly\u00a0new.\u201d The patterns or shapes \u2013 infinite in\u00a0possibilities \u2013 that emerge from the dirt\u00a0become an act of seeing rather than a flight\u00a0of fancy; a means of interpreting what is\u00a0there rather than imagining what is not.\u00a0It\u2019s an idea that took on new significance\u00a0in the early twentieth century in the\u00a0work of Swiss psychologist Hermann\u00a0Rorschach. Seeking to understand more\u00a0about the unconscious minds of his patients,\u00a0Rorschach experimented with ink poured\u00a0onto pieces of paper, which he folded to\u00a0create a bilaterally symmetrical inkblot.\u00a0Spreading out like capillaries across the\u00a0surface, the ink would dry in an array\u00a0of distinctive shapes. Each one, whilst\u00a0vaguely reminiscent of a form \u2013 a bat or\u00a0cloud or human figure, was ambiguous;\u00a0simultaneously both something and nothing.<\/p>\n

That sense of ambiguity is, more broadly,\u00a0present in much of the information\u00a0our senses receive. We seek wholeness\u00a0rather than fragments and rely on prior\u00a0information to fill in the gaps. Take the\u00a0two cloud watching friends. As they\u00a0converse about their differing perceptions\u00a0of shape, they decipher each word not\u00a0only through the sounds and movements\u00a0coming from the speaker\u2019s mouth but also\u00a0through the lens of the preceding words,\u00a0the topic at hand, and their longstanding\u00a0knowledge of language. What has\u00a0occurred \u2013 both in the immediate and\u00a0distant past \u2013 will also affect their\u00a0reading of a situation. If we accept that\u00a0our perception is often influenced by\u00a0psychological factors, carved out from a\u00a0lifetime of experience, then the way we\u00a0see the inkblots has the ability to tell us\u00a0something deeper of ourselves.<\/p>\n

\"grazia
Double Breasted Puffed Dress, BENCHALLAL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The eponymous Rorschach test encourages\u00a0a projective technique that presents a\u00a0subject with a deliberately ambiguous\u00a0stimulus \u2013 in this case the accidental\u00a0form of an inkblot \u2013 and assumes that\u00a0the person will project their unconscious\u00a0psychological processes onto it. The\u00a0defining point of interest is not, therefore,\u00a0what the inkblot appears to be but rather\u00a0how the viewer interprets it.<\/p>\n

At its core, the theory behind the\u00a0technique is a simple one. The inkblots\u00a0act as a kind of visual diversion and in\u00a0the course of interpreting each image,\u00a0attention is drawn away from the subject\u00a0so that the person\u2019s usual psychological\u00a0guards are weakened. This, along with the\u00a0question \u201cwhat do you see?\u2019\u2019, translates into\u00a0a greater openness and patient willingness\u00a0to disclose what they perceive. In turn\u00a0these responses help shape a psychological\u00a0profile, with Rorschach theorising that\u00a0patients undertaking the test would reveal\u00a0hidden emotions \u2013 fears, hopes, losses.<\/p>\n

\"grazia
Sleeveless Dress With Mesh Frills, Felt Boater Hat, ALBERTA FERRETTI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Over time, assumptions became\u00a0consistencies \u2013 those whose answers\u00a0emphasised movement were likely to be\u00a0introverted; those who reacted with shock\u00a0to the coloured images were inhibited; those\u00a0who refused to respond to certain images\u00a0were more prone to depression.\u00a0The interpretative nature of the test,\u00a0weighted with the psychological factors\u00a0bearing down on perception, have\u00a0encouraged a new way of understanding\u00a0sight. In The Inkblots: Hermann Rorschach,\u00a0His Iconic Test, and the Power of Seeing,\u00a0<\/em>author Damion Searls argues that \u201cWhen\u00a0you look at something, you are directing\u00a0your attention to parts of the visual field and\u00a0ignoring others. You see the book in your\u00a0hand or the ball hurtling toward you, and\u00a0choose to disregard all the other information\u00a0that is reaching your eye: the colour of your\u00a0desk, the shapes of clouds in the sky. You are\u00a0constantly cross-checking what is out there\u00a0against objects and ideas you recognise and\u00a0remember. Information and instructions\u00a0are travelling along nerves from the eye to\u00a0the brain, and from the brain to the eye…\u00a0To see is to act as much as react, put out\u00a0as much as take in. Perception is not only\u00a0a psychological process, it is also \u2013 almost\u00a0always \u2013 a cultural one. We see through our\u00a0personal and cultural lens, according to the\u00a0habits of a lifetime, which are shaped by a\u00a0particular culture… In principle, then, the\u00a0Rorschach test rests on one basic premise:\u00a0seeing is an act not just of the eye, but of the\u00a0mind; and not just of the visual cortex or\u00a0some other isolated part of the brain, but of\u00a0the whole person. If that is true, a visual task\u00a0that calls upon enough of our perceptual\u00a0powers will reveal the mind at work.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a concept that is exciting and unsettling\u00a0in equal measure \u2013 what we see is made up\u00a0of who we are \u2013 so that beauty, or pain, or\u00a0joy, or inkblots are in the eye, and mind,\u00a0of the beholder.<\/p>\n

\"grazia
Latex Puffed Sleeve Maxi Dress, DEL CORE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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