A few months ago, I had an opportunity to create a visual book that completely challenged my way of seeing, imaging, visualising and making. I must say that the learning has taken me towards a way of engaging with the design that is intuitive, hands-on and poetic. This is simply because, the constraint was big- the images I create, will not be seen! The book was meant to be for visually impaired children and my usual way of approaching ‘image’ from a perspective of the visually able world would not have worked.
This triggered a question, what is an image then, if it is not to be seen by eyes? An image lives in the realm of the seen world. Much about its existence, interpretation and function relies on the visual perception of its maker and the viewer. At the same time, it is also an experience that involves one’s body, mind and context. I held on to the idea of experience as I decided to create images that can be read by the body and not only with the eyes. When I was thinking of the theme for the book, my design research led me to a very interesting but unexplored area where a lot can be ‘looked’ at without looking, but by feeling.
Through this project, I wanted to reaffirm and celebrate the reality of how visually challenged children are able to experience the world with their bodies. This demands a different approach from trying to artificially create something approximate to visual impressions for visually challenged people.
I never intended to write a story and then illustrate it through tactile media. I felt that would mean translating a story into visuals. I wanted to see if I could build a story through images that create the possibility of open-ended responses. This approach was exciting and equally challenging as it put me in a position of certain uncertainty as compared to a ‘planned’ set of images that I would normally create for a narrative. I also felt that that the narrative that would emerge should have several possibilities of construction, reconstruction and interpretation. As I started making the images, I also started to see the world around me a bit differently. I was noticing textures, sounds and construction of surfaces closely and these observations were contributing to the experiments I was doing with the cloth, thread and things I found around me. This way of working was totally driven by the material and my interactions with it.
An experiment with paper and cloth where paper is crushed and folded between the two layers of cloth.
Since I wanted to work with a theme that would reaffirm a different way of sensing and sense making, I thought that talking about an eye itself could be important. Eyes are often used to cry, laugh, move, react to light even if they are not used for seeing in a way that the sighted person sees. As my first step, I began with a definite image of an eye (which in hindsight I thought was an image of an eye according to a sighted person but then realized that the image of an eye may be perceived differently by a visually challenged person; it may be as a physical entity or as a feeling!)
I decided to make the book on the theme of the experience of navigating through an everyday material and emotional world, using one’s body as a medium. Each page in the book is made, on the theme of every day, keeping in mind possibilities of interpretations across cultures and contexts.
I made a decision not to use the words in the book, as words tend to create a sense of fixed meaning. It would be an enriching process if words come from the users, creating a dialogue between the book and its readers. This book celebrates and encourages children to give words to the images they feel on each page. Each page can be treated as a single image or as a set of images connected to develop an entire story. For children who may have trouble without more direction or structure, I have attached some prompts as an example to help start them on that journey forward into expression and creation. They can be introduced by the parent or teacher.
An example of the direct translation of an image into a graphic and then into a tactile image, as I would do with pencil or pen.
Another image of an eye I constructed along with tears by using two layers of two different cloth pieces.
As I was creating these images, I was realizing that this is not the way to go. My bias about illustration – which assumes that a word image is translated into a visual image – was coming in the way of a new possibility of creating an experience. The craft of creating these images was coming along well, but they made no connection with what I actually wanted to do. But doing them opened my mind towards fresh ways of construction and techniques that changed my understanding of the image itself.
THESE TWO DO NOT LOOK LIKE IMAGES WITH A PARTICULAR MEANING, BUT THEY ARE INTERACTIVE AND ALLOW THE ‘VIEWER’ TO TOUCH AND INTERPRET THEM.
FOR A VISUALLY IMPAIRED CHILD, THE MEANING OF THESE IMAGES ALSO WOULD DEPEND ON THE SOCIO-CULTURAL CONTEXT FROM WHICH THEY COME FROM. FOR EXAMPLE, THIS IMAGE WAS INTERPRETED BEAUTIFULLY AS CHILIES DRYING IN THE SUN ON THE MAT!
An image like the one above allows the reader to feel and discover a narrative that lies hidden within the layers, pockets and gaps. It is the reader who gives a voice to the story through an interaction with the material.
The two images above have some aluminum foil (that comes with medicinal pills and tablets) cut and stuck inside. There are opposing textures on the same page with cotton fillings and various stitches that can together create an experience for a ‘viewer’ to articulate and make a narrative with.
The book also requires time and space for interaction. It encourages children to spend time with themselves, giving way to their imagination through a sensorial experience.
In this piece, there are beads embedded in the two layers of fabric: they can be used in various ways with different age groups to make a conversation.
This book supports dialogue at various levels: the reader and the material, the readers with each other as they interpret the narrative and the reader between his or her own past and present experiences. The possibilities in the panels are endless and one can even change their order.
As a visual artist, growing through this project, I realize that it is important to create an experience of direct interaction of touch.
To sum up I am trying to incorporate this realization in my work by creating pages that have a potential for several interpretations using beads, layers, textures, edges, spaces, strong and subtle folds and holes. They are designed to evoke experiences that offer an opportunity for each reader to create their own story. The book could be used as a trigger to articulate experiences, to create stories, to create one’s own tactile expressions and make sense of the world around.
The book currently lives in the library of Chetana Charitable Trust, Chennai (www.chetana.org.in).