The First Sensory and Audio-Described experience of Brian Eno’s 77 Million Paintings contd.

What appealed to me particularly about the invitation from the RHA was that they identified that as an artist with a disability, I would be bringing a particular strength and insight into accessibility. They saw difference as a value. This is so true. And we need more of it across the Arts. Because visually, I don’t necessarily get reliable or “factually correct” information, sound, touch, a sense of atmosphere communicate to me strongly. And, forms a major part of how I work and what I say in that work.

Straight away, as a singer, dancer, artists, writer, actor … I knew words alone could not convey the artistic experience. Art of any kind is a multi-sensory experience. Why should it just be reduced to words alone for disabled people? So right from the first tour, I employed a multidisciplinary, multi sensory approach. For Brin Eno’s 77 Million Paintings, I made a tactile map of the exhibition space so that visitors could get a sense of the space before they entered the room. I also made a tactile map of a sample of the “paintings” themselves and I got cuts of a silver birch tree so visitors could touch a living breathing part of the exhibition.

And this became the protocol for how I’ve created every tour since.

I am taking inspiration from my own experience of art. I come to know art in many ways….. so much of it is feeling .. and after all, if the painter could have said what she wanted to say in words, well she wouldn’t have painted it, would she? Even myself, the paintings I’ve made, I couldn’t have “said,” instead.

So we need more than words, and more than just the tactile, to give disabled people an experience ef art - well I think so anyway!”

This led to my creation of audio and sensory tours at the RHA of the work by : Brian Eno: 77 Million Paintings, Eamonn Doyle, Niamh O’Malley: Handle, Michael Robinson, and Neill Carroll.

And please continue reading below how Solid, Space and Sound has developed through work with the Nataional Gallery, the Pallas Projects, and the Ark.