Dr Hannah Thompson, Royal Holloway University

Identifying case-studies and participants

The purpose of the research trip and discussions with The Royal National Institute of Blind (RNIB), The Scottish Sensory Centre based at Edinburgh University, VocalEyes London, Dr Alison Eardley University of Westminster and Dr Hannah Thompson Royal Holloway University was two-fold. Firstly, to identify stakeholders and blind participants for a series of Public Engagement events, both within the scope of the research project and for future legacy and ongoing collaborations. Secondly, to identify blind art-practitioners for case study.

Case-Study

In terms of exclusion/inclusion criteria, participants must be over 18 years old, legally blind or visually impaired, of sound mind and capable of making decisions for themselves.

David Johnson

David Johnson is a blind artist, who was sighted as a child and became blind in adulthood. Completely blind, with no light awareness, Johnson uses a wide variety of materials, including ready- made pieces creating 3D art installations, including Too Big to Feel, a macro-scale braille sculpture, situated on the campus of Royal Holloway University (Blind Creatives Conference, 2015). His artwork draws upon concepts, associative memory and synaesthesia (Johnson, 2019) with his philosophy being that the irony of blindness can provide insights into big questions and the nature of things. In his talk Beauty and the Blind: There’s far more to seeing than enters the eyeball he suggests that the epistemology of blindness and the important ways the blind experience the world, rather than being alienating, can be seen as parallel and analogous to the sighted experience (Johnson, 2016).

Introduced by email through Dr Hannah Thomson, contact was made with Johnson by phone in May 2019 for a preliminary conversation about this project and to ascertain if, upon ethical approval, Johnson would be willing to be a case-study participant for this project. Johnson expressed considerable enthusiasm for the project and the concept of using virtual-reality to represent blind art practitioner’s perceptual-experiences and confirmed that he would be keen and willing to participate.

During the networking research trip to London in July, an opportunity to meet David Johnson, arose, following an invitation from him to attend his curated tour, as part of a series of in-gallery tours at the Royal Academy of Art’s Summer Exhibition (2019).

Invited to select five pieces from the exhibition that intrigued him the most (Royal Academy of Art, 2019), Johnson led by a gallery assistant, utilised a portable lapel microphone to speak directly to the 20 plus tour group via headphones. This created an intimate tour experience enabling a clear audio focus on Johnson’s voice, due to the fade out of ambient gallery noise . Johnson’s audio-description of the of his favourite artworks including a giant scale photorealist painting, two Tracey Emin sculptures, a theatrical installation and a stone carved tactile object, were derived from the descriptions he had received from a sighted person. Johnson noted that his interpretation of another person’s interpretation added an extra layer of intrigue to his understanding and perception of these pieces. Johnson described in detail the context, composition and materials of paintings and sculptures; identified finger print impressions in the original positive casts of bronze sculptures, the macabre nature of the theatrical installation, the rough and smooth textures of stone sculptures and how the floor finishes changed between gallery spaces and the atmospheric temperature became cooler or warmer depending on the gallery space. His detailed descriptions, provided opportunity for deeper study and reflection of the pieces, including the gallery context in which they were displayed, which provided a working example of the ethos that VocalEyes and Dr Hannah Thompson ascribe to, being that audio-description not only serves as an accessible tool, but enables a richer opportunity to bring depth to the creative experience and understanding.