Exhibition invites Limerick people to walk in the shoes of a person with visual impairment
A MULTI-sensory exhibition invites the public to walk in the shoes of a person with visual impairment.
Seeing Without Sight: A Sensory Exploration presents a selection of objects chosen by four persons with visual impairment.
In collaboration with the Hunt Museum, they deliver all the content in the exhibition as well as accessibility design solutions which increase access for people with disability while enriching the experience for everybody.
The exhibition was developed over one year through a collaborative project with the visually-impaired co-creators, museum docent volunteers and Hunt Museum staff.
At the launch, Liam McLoughlin, one of the exhibition’s visually-impaired co-creators explained: “Engaging with objects in museums requires you to use the pathway of sight but as I am a person with visual impairment, I cannot easily do this.
"Seeing Without Sight is a game changer because it allows you to use your other senses to touch object reproductions and to listen to audio descriptions which bring the objects alive. We have developed an excellent accessibility model for exhibitions which I hope other museum and galleries will use in the future.”
Maria Cagney, Curator of Education and Outreach led the project and delivery of the exhibition.
Speaking at the launch of the initiative, she said: “During workshops we assisted our visually-impaired co-creators to investigate 35 objects in total. To do this, the docents wrote vivid descriptions for these objects which give physical details and some contextual information allowing them to paint pictures in their mind. Our co-creators then selected two objects each.
These were digitised in 3D and printed by the Rapid Innovation Unit and form the touch component in this exhibition. From an inclusion point of view, this component is very important because it allows their voices to be heard and represented in the Museum.”
The exhibition ran until Sunday. However, a second phase is planned but dates are still being confirmed.