StemCell Therapy

A Hamilton artist wants you to forget about the no touching rule. The Scales That Fall From Our Eyes at Centre [3] goes against the formalities of an art gallery and invites visitors to experience it through touch and sound.

Olivia Brouwer, 27, is a partially blind artist aiming to bring accessible art to the visually impaired community. With abstract visuals and Braille language exhibits, Brouwer addresses her disability with tactile paintings and challenges the idea that art does not need to be touched in order to be felt.

I am partially blind in one eye and so I wanted to discuss that in my work and become more confident in myself by doing that, said Brouwer.

The exhibit brings a series of conversations with Brouwers friends Tim Peters, Eric Bourgeois and Jesse Hannigan about the meaning of blindness and colour blindness in their lives while raising awareness of the inclusivity and accessibility needed for the visually impaired.

I interviewed each of them individually, questioning how they would describe their perception of the world through the lens of their experience of blindness in a positive light, but also allowing them to express challenges associated with their form of blindness, said Brouwer.

Each conversation is translated into Braille and painted on a tactile canvas with acrylic paint. Visitors can also listen to the interviews with headphones activated by touching a conduit paint on the wall.

This is the first time Im showing work that is tactile. It will be interesting to see how people respond to it just as we come out of the pandemic. People can grab some gloves available to touch the pieces if theyre not comfortable, said Brouwer.

Inspired and influenced by Christianity, The Scales That Fall From Our Eyes visuals portray Brouwers interpretation of the Biblical story of Saul. He was a Jewish leader who persecuted Christians, and became blind for three days because of that. When he realized what he was doing wrong, the blindness spell fell like scales from his eyes.

According to Brouwer, the story of Saul represents the change that takes place when prejudiced barriers are removed, contributing to justice and inclusivity for minorities.

I like this kind of metaphor for realizing whats wrong in the world and releasing those scales and bringing clarity to what we need to change. Justice needs to happen, accessibility needs to be implemented not just to art galleries, she said.

Even though she brought her Christian faith to the exhibits title and concept, there was a moment of hesitancy throughout the creation process due to fear of negative feedback.

It was a bit confusing for me, so I stepped away from it for a while. I have a hard time bringing it into my art because I didnt want it to be evangelical, Brouwer said. I think the story of Saul will come into my work in the future. Theres a lot of stories in the Bible that talk about blindness and healing, but I think its more about how everybody sees what needs to change, what accessibility there is.

In March 2020, Brouwer was selected to participate in a three month long Emerging Artist Residency at Centre [3] which has extended until this year because of the pandemic. During the residency, Brouwer started a CONTACT kit which introduces Braille decoding to sighted viewers with the goal of bringing awareness to visually impaired folks.

The kit contains a tactile painting, an embossed booklet, interactive Braille pieces to read and decode, and a Braille translation of the English text describing the instructions and meaning of the project. The idea of the kit kind of kick started the work that Im doing now. How can we give voices to these minority groups? With the pandemic, blind people are very limited to touching things.

Brouwer, a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Toronto and Sheridan College grew up in a creative family filled with illustrators and woodworkers who gave her space and incentive to follow a career in the arts. However, the artist struggled to understand who she was as an artist and accept her disability.

In high school, I was always self-conscious about it. In university, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to say and who I was as an artist. I think being partially blind is part of who I am. Its important for me to put that into my artwork, especially because art is mostly visual, said Brouwer.

The Scales That Fall From Our Eyes will run until July 2 at Centre [3], a not-for-profit, charitable artist-run centre on 173 James St N.

More:
Olivia Brouwer's art is for everyone to see and touch - Hamilton Spectator

This entry was posted on June 26, 2022 at 2:09 am and is filed under Blindness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |