In Touch with Culture

The AGO is striving to make its collections accessible to more visitors, including those who are blind or have low vision. “I have learned that using touch to explore works of art requires patience and thoroughness, but that touch misses nothing,” says Doris Van Den Brekel, coordinator in the AGO’s Education and Public Programming Department. In fact, her experience giving tactile tours to people with vision disabilities has expanded her own relationship with art. “When I use my eyes to explore art, I often go too fast and sometimes make assumptions about what is there,” she says. “Describing an artwork to someone who can’t see takes time and attention to detail, but deepens the art connection for both of us through shared discussion.

”While there are a variety of ways to convey information about items on display, for a visitor who is blind, there is no substitute for tactile access to the regular collection. Replicas are also helpful. The Larco Museum in Lima, Peru, has one of the world’s largest collections of pre-Columbian art, and it was one of the first museums in the world to put its entire 45,000-piece collection in an electronic catalogue. The museum’s gift shop contains many replicas that were cast from pre-Incan vessels from the collection. During my recent visit, as part of a specialized tour with U.K. company Traveleyes (traveleyes-international.com), museum staff organized an opportunity for us to touch about 20 examples of these vessels and even gave each of us one to take home.

The University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon’s collection consists mainly of replicas of artifacts from ancient times. The collection was started in 1974 as a small group of replicas purchased from the Louvre in France, but grew to include replicas from other museums and workshops as well as some original artifacts. These replicas are created using the originals, and are practically indistinguishable.

Specialized tours are another way to gain access to the joys museums hold. After an individualized tour of the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, I had the opportunity to touch many items that they did not have room to put on display. At the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Que., I have had special tours, especially during the summertime when the staff is augmented by archaeology and anthropology students. I was able to touch many objects from the extensive First Nations exhibition.

Access can also be provided by taking down existing barriers temporarily. During a tour on board Admiral Nelson’s flagship, the staff took down the rope and allowed me to wander his quarterdeck. At the Museo Inka in Cusko, Peru, the security guard took down the barrier and allowed me to examine models of two Incan cities, including Machu Picchu. This experience gave me a far better idea of the so-called Lost City of the Incas, which I had visited the previous day.

But tactile access to items in the regular collection is paramount. As Maya Jonas observed while on a touch tour at the AGO: “Touch misses nothing, whereas vision can sometimes miss or misinterpret what is there. By touching, you can feel the reality of the piece.”

Conservators are often worried about potential damage that touching items can cause. These concerns are understandable. We must all do our part to preserve the irreplaceable remains from the past, but these concerns can be countered. Having items on display at all, exposed to light, air and flash photography, can cause some damage. However, we take these minor risks, because while preservation is a priority, these works are on display so we can all appreciate and enjoy them.

In Copenhagen, Denmark, I was asked to put on a pair of thin cotton gloves to prevent the oils from my hands from damaging the ancient artifacts that I was touching at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Its collection includes artifacts from Egypt, the Near East, Greece, the Ancient Mediterranean and Imperial Rome. “The more objects that you have available in your collection that can be touched, the less each individual sculpture will get handled,” explains Elizabeth Sweeney, a former accessibility educator at the National Gallery in Ottawa. “At the National Gallery, we have about 15 touchable sculptures. We do a tactile tour once every two months at most, so each work gets touched maybe once or twice a year.”

The ultimate experience in tactile access just might be climbing down into the pit to touch the Terracotta Warriors outside of Xi’an, China. Andrew Spridgens from the U.K., my roommate on my recent Peruvian tour, had such an experience in 1996. “Going down into the pit to touch the Terracotta Warriors was a very special moment and one I shall never forget,” he said. “Not many people have had the privilege. It was great touching something so old.”

If it is possible to permit individuals to visit the Terracotta Warriors or to touch the remains of past civilizations in the Glyptotek, surely we can make access to museums and art galleries more accessible to Canadians with various disabilities who wish to learn more about our past and participate in present-day culture.

John Rae is an enthusiastic visitor of museums and art galleries. He is 1st vice president of the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians www.blindcanadians.ca.