[Music]
the way we interpret our things is way
we look at our perspectives it’s not
about somebody being blind or physically
challenged it’s about understanding that
we all do things but in a different
manner it’s really important in today’s
time to embrace difference to be part of
that my first interaction with
disability was when my mom became
partially sighted that was the first
time I realized what is it to share a
space with somebody with a special need
how things change for you how the
society changes the social stigma
associated with disability you suddenly
start thinking about different ways in
which people approach you being a hated
architect museums were a very important
part of my travel and I would always
wonder how my mom or anybody who is
visually impaired would experience these
places because you’d always find this
signage which would say please do not
touch please stay away from this place
Dutch is the medium through which they
understand things touch is a medium
through which they access those ideas
and get the feeling of that space they
experience things like that that’s when
my journey began to explore the power of
touch what you see here is my first
project with the National Museum we
created a gallery where you could
actually come in and touch objects in
the museum even though you were visually
impaired or not everybody was allowed to
come and touch an experience that place
it is wonderful to see how people
started negotiating this space how the
barriers broke over there this gave me a
first-hand experience to understand how
people with visual impairment think what
do they make out of that though creating
tactile models were a easier task but
the real challenge came in when we
sorry looking at paintings a flat
two-dimensional painting how do you
change that how do you make it
accessible to those who can’t see what
would you do in that to make a tactile
we started experimenting we started
looking at different things and
exploring and after that with the team
of the city Palace Museum in Jaipur we
created series of tactile miniature
paintings along with the team we even
designed India’s first museum Braille
book it’s unique because it has Braille
it has large script font for those with
low vision and tactile images like how
we know to look at something from top to
bottom it even tells them that
experience the painting or the piece
from top to bottom it guides them in a
way and makes them more independent in a
site like a museum and have a greater
experience it was not only that we even
designed a model of the city of Jaipur
for them to understand what does it mean
to live in a city which is grid-like
where you always have straight roads or
the importance of a fortification wall
for such a wealthy state the importance
of protecting its people along with the
objects and the pieces in the museum
even made sure the spaces were
accessible so that anybody on a
wheelchair could easily come in and
experience the whole museum holistically
this experience gave me a chance to
actually create Pakistan’s first museum
real book for State Bank Museum in
Karachi this is a very important project
for me because I feel in a very very
small way I’ve tried to blur the borders
between the two countries failure and
critical feedback has been really
important for me I do not have a
textbook like how other courses and
vocations have my critical feedback
interaction with student has been the
most important source and resource while
you are conducting her artwork a kid
came and told me by a colleague line q
touch karyam how many Bukowski under key
I am a la bocca paint a what is the
paint over there what is the surface
quality what is the texture over there
okay civility vaakya Jota
and had led to creating Abbas Abbas is
India’s first art education and
appreciation program for blind and
visually impaired we are very lucky that
we have support of da Jie modern or
gallery in New York and Delhi to support
this they allow us to use their
paintings as prototypes and create
tactile reproductions these
reproductions are placed right next to
the original works so they’re like how
you and me can go easily in a gallery
and see them even they can go around
easily and touch them feel them
experience what it is there is a peacock
in there they can experience a peacock
feather there is a Judy there is a
goddess in that they can feel the
jewelry and experience how gracious she
is over there
that’s the beauty of touch and that’s
how they experience things not only
stopping there we went further and
develop Braille books for them these
books give them an idea about different
techniques different Indian masters and
how their successes have helped shape
the art perspective and cultural
landscape of India textures materials
was quite interesting we thought why not
introduce smell why not introduce
something which they can hear the audio
into it this picture is from our artwork
that we conducted in Malaysia here you
can see students actually smelling the
painting to understand what the painting
is about there is an audio description
which tells him that what is it what’s
happening over there and these audio
descriptions are there when we are not
conducting the work otherwise we do it
ourselves we would sit with them it’s an
August gathering like you just have them
and do have great discussions and when
they are touching and they’ll come up
with quite interesting questions
observation is my another teacher I have
a very weird habit of writing down
things maybe on my hand maybe on a small
tissue paper maybe just on a bus ticket
that I have I had a chance to visit a
very important blind school over here in
Delhi when I was waiting for the
principal I was happy that he took some
time I heard two students sit and talk
they were trying to figure out
what was there on that card Oh Ida
carbecue I what is that small glossy
picture over there what is that thing it
was their photograph they were not able
to understand what is that thing that
was stuck over there
what was it and that’s when I realized
that photography is a medium which we
have not explored so with serendipity
Arts Festival we for the first time
created tactile photographs right next
to the original photographs in this
space these photographs were titled as
we see us and very apt for our thing
like how we see us but through the
medium of touch we even conduct other
tactile walks of the artworks which were
on display where we guide them we talk
to them about different materials the
styles in which the artist has created
their works and what was their story
behind that the journey of please do not
touch to gating museums to put up signs
like please touch has been quite
interesting
we often get people who come and say we
think there is a grammatical mistake you
forgot and not and we’re like no you
please touch like it’s something for you
to touch and the excitement that they
show after that it’s amazing they just
feel so free in that space it’s a
barrier which is broken for them we even
started conducting blindfold walks for
people these blindfold walks have been
very important we do them with schools
with colleges with corporates as part of
their HR training with CSR’s
it’s a medium to talk about disability
sensitization and awareness it’s about
what you feel for being visually
impaired for five minutes what’s
something some people are living with it
became a great source to talk to people
about that what they may or may not in
their lives understand but it is
important to be very inclusive about
finally I would like to talk up and with
one statement the journey of
volunteering with the National Museum to
becoming a UNESCO consultant for world
heritage sites on accessibility has not
been an easy one
but yes when I see the smiles on their
face I do feel that I’ve made I’ve done
something I’ve made that bit of a
difference to make this world a livable
space so students and my fellow friends
do whatever you do do whatever you like
do it with compassion do it with strong
passion and do it with a touch of
empathy thank you
[Applause]
the way we interpret our things is way
we look at our perspectives it’s not
about somebody being blind or physically
challenged it’s about understanding that
we all do things but in a different
manner it’s really important in today’s
time to embrace difference to be part of
that my first interaction with
disability was when my mom became
partially sighted that was the first
time I realized what is it to share a
space with somebody with a special need
how things change for you how the
society changes the social stigma
associated with disability you suddenly
start thinking about different ways in
which people approach you being a hated
architect museums were a very important
part of my travel and I would always
wonder how my mom or anybody who is
visually impaired would experience these
places because you’d always find this
signage which would say please do not
touch please stay away from this place
Dutch is the medium through which they
understand things touch is a medium
through which they access those ideas
and get the feeling of that space they
experience things like that that’s when
my journey began to explore the power of
touch what you see here is my first
project with the National Museum we
created a gallery where you could
actually come in and touch objects in
the museum even though you were visually
impaired or not everybody was allowed to
come and touch an experience that place
it is wonderful to see how people
started negotiating this space how the
barriers broke over there this gave me a
first-hand experience to understand how
people with visual impairment think what
do they make out of that though creating
tactile models were a easier task but
the real challenge came in when we
sorry looking at paintings a flat
two-dimensional painting how do you
change that how do you make it
accessible to those who can’t see what
would you do in that to make a tactile
we started experimenting we started
looking at different things and
exploring and after that with the team
of the city Palace Museum in Jaipur we
created series of tactile miniature
paintings along with the team we even
designed India’s first museum Braille
book it’s unique because it has Braille
it has large script font for those with
low vision and tactile images like how
we know to look at something from top to
bottom it even tells them that
experience the painting or the piece
from top to bottom it guides them in a
way and makes them more independent in a
site like a museum and have a greater
experience it was not only that we even
designed a model of the city of Jaipur
for them to understand what does it mean
to live in a city which is grid-like
where you always have straight roads or
the importance of a fortification wall
for such a wealthy state the importance
of protecting its people along with the
objects and the pieces in the museum
even made sure the spaces were
accessible so that anybody on a
wheelchair could easily come in and
experience the whole museum holistically
this experience gave me a chance to
actually create Pakistan’s first museum
real book for State Bank Museum in
Karachi this is a very important project
for me because I feel in a very very
small way I’ve tried to blur the borders
between the two countries failure and
critical feedback has been really
important for me I do not have a
textbook like how other courses and
vocations have my critical feedback
interaction with student has been the
most important source and resource while
you are conducting her artwork a kid
came and told me by a colleague line q
touch karyam how many Bukowski under key
I am a la bocca paint a what is the
paint over there what is the surface
quality what is the texture over there
okay civility vaakya Jota
and had led to creating Abbas Abbas is
India’s first art education and
appreciation program for blind and
visually impaired we are very lucky that
we have support of da Jie modern or
gallery in New York and Delhi to support
this they allow us to use their
paintings as prototypes and create
tactile reproductions these
reproductions are placed right next to
the original works so they’re like how
you and me can go easily in a gallery
and see them even they can go around
easily and touch them feel them
experience what it is there is a peacock
in there they can experience a peacock
feather there is a Judy there is a
goddess in that they can feel the
jewelry and experience how gracious she
is over there
that’s the beauty of touch and that’s
how they experience things not only
stopping there we went further and
develop Braille books for them these
books give them an idea about different
techniques different Indian masters and
how their successes have helped shape
the art perspective and cultural
landscape of India textures materials
was quite interesting we thought why not
introduce smell why not introduce
something which they can hear the audio
into it this picture is from our artwork
that we conducted in Malaysia here you
can see students actually smelling the
painting to understand what the painting
is about there is an audio description
which tells him that what is it what’s
happening over there and these audio
descriptions are there when we are not
conducting the work otherwise we do it
ourselves we would sit with them it’s an
August gathering like you just have them
and do have great discussions and when
they are touching and they’ll come up
with quite interesting questions
observation is my another teacher I have
a very weird habit of writing down
things maybe on my hand maybe on a small
tissue paper maybe just on a bus ticket
that I have I had a chance to visit a
very important blind school over here in
Delhi when I was waiting for the
principal I was happy that he took some
time I heard two students sit and talk
they were trying to figure out
what was there on that card Oh Ida
carbecue I what is that small glossy
picture over there what is that thing it
was their photograph they were not able
to understand what is that thing that
was stuck over there
what was it and that’s when I realized
that photography is a medium which we
have not explored so with serendipity
Arts Festival we for the first time
created tactile photographs right next
to the original photographs in this
space these photographs were titled as
we see us and very apt for our thing
like how we see us but through the
medium of touch we even conduct other
tactile walks of the artworks which were
on display where we guide them we talk
to them about different materials the
styles in which the artist has created
their works and what was their story
behind that the journey of please do not
touch to gating museums to put up signs
like please touch has been quite
interesting
we often get people who come and say we
think there is a grammatical mistake you
forgot and not and we’re like no you
please touch like it’s something for you
to touch and the excitement that they
show after that it’s amazing they just
feel so free in that space it’s a
barrier which is broken for them we even
started conducting blindfold walks for
people these blindfold walks have been
very important we do them with schools
with colleges with corporates as part of
their HR training with CSR’s
it’s a medium to talk about disability
sensitization and awareness it’s about
what you feel for being visually
impaired for five minutes what’s
something some people are living with it
became a great source to talk to people
about that what they may or may not in
their lives understand but it is
important to be very inclusive about
finally I would like to talk up and with
one statement the journey of
volunteering with the National Museum to
becoming a UNESCO consultant for world
heritage sites on accessibility has not
been an easy one
but yes when I see the smiles on their
face I do feel that I’ve made I’ve done
something I’ve made that bit of a
difference to make this world a livable
space so students and my fellow friends
do whatever you do do whatever you like
do it with compassion do it with strong
passion and do it with a touch of
empathy thank you
[Applause]
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