French impressionist Claude Monet may have famously carried on painting even after losing partial vision in his eyes — though the blurred vision did reflect in his works — but appreciation of art has largely remained out of bounds for visually impaired people. To fill the gap and ensure a sense of inclusion, the Kolkata Centre for Creativity in Anandapur has created a special art gallery with Braille literature.
A picture of a bird with Braille imprints that can help one experience art through touch
Situated on the first floor, the Braille Gallery is KCC’s way of making art more accessible and more inclusive. Starting off with two books with multiple copies and several Braille artwork on the walls, KCC took one step towards inclusivity with its mind set on including more artwork as time progresses to make the library an extensive collection of Braille art. Currently, the two books at the library are KCC Braille Book on Art and Rasa.
Speaking to My Kolkata at the opening of the Braille library, Richa Agarwal, the chairperson of KCC and Emami Art, said: “We have been thinking of doing a Braille gallery and library for a long time now but because of our limited knowhow and possibilities of getting the right kind of books it took us sometime. We wanted to open it up now itself instead of delaying it further so that the children who came for the chess event could experience art through touch.”
Each piece of art in the library has multiple Braille imprints to enhance the feel for someone who will be seeing it through touch
With the hopes of increasing the collection, Agarwal said: “We want to make the library more robust by getting people to collaborate with us and create Braille art and books so we can have enough material for people with visual impairment to experience art.” With the concept being such an interesting one, we wanted to know how the idea for such a gallery was born and how it is going to take shape in the future.
“We have been displaying Braille artwork for quite some time now and we wanted to make art more accessible to those who cannot see. We commissioned these books that are currently present in the library. The idea has been in mind ever since the gallery started but we wanted to get the knowhow to make it something that is actually enjoyable to those who will consume art through touch. It can become an extensive collection but we need people to come forward and provide their inputs to make it successful,” Agarwal said.
Nandini Sharma feels one of the artworks on display to get an impression of the creative piece before her
Looking at her reactions while feeling the art and getting a sense of the creativity before her, we asked Nandini Sharma, a Class IX student from Lighthouse for the Blind, about her experience of feeling art to which she said: “It is a very unique concept. We usually only have Braille books but to be able to feel art the way I did was something that I enjoyed. I quite liked it but some of the Braille is a bit difficult to make out. So if they add in more work and correct the braille a bit this will be a beautiful experience for us to feel art.”
Agarwal said attempts are on to improve the gallery with the right expertise and ensure an enjoyable experience for a visually impaired person to feel the beauty of art.