1. drawing through touch AHRC Cultural Exchange Project Feb 14 th –May 13 th 2013 Deborah Harty

2. Drawing is said to be phenomenological, that is, capable of recording its own making and the movement of the thoughts and body of the drawer.

3. Working in collaboration with users of the RNIB College Loughborough and My Sight Nottingham, the research sought to ascertain : if this premise is affected when the sense of sight, as the predominant sense, is removed and drawing commences predominantly through touch; whether drawing processes could develop the participators’ understanding of the world around them.

4. Drawing was utilised as a means to record the experience of participators exploring and perceiving an object through touch. Their experiences were recorded through drawing onto paper designed to raise the black lines of the drawing when heat-treated.

5. This allowed the participators to ‘ see ’ and re-experience their drawings through touching and retracing the tactile drawings they created.

6. The drawing tactiles were re-experienced through touch and shared amongst the group to allow all participators to experience each other’s drawings. This offered the participators an alternative way of considering the objects they were asked to draw, more importantly it offered reciprocal insights into how sighted/non- sighted perceive the world.

7. A further unanticipated consequence was the level of satisfaction the participators experienced during and after drawing. In some instances, particularly for those that are congenitally blind, this was due to a feeling of inclusivity into a domain normally not accessible to them – visual arts.

8. The shared group activity of drawing initiated a convivial atmosphere promoting free-flowing discussion and a willingness to share experiences and discoveries. Several participators indicated a desire to show their drawings and were willing to lead discussions as to what they had discovered through the process of drawing and what they had been attempting to communicate through their mark-making.

9. The research is still in its infancy, however, initial findings suggest that drawing can be beneficial to those without sight, offering insights into both sighted and non-sighted worlds. In much the same way that drawing through attentive looking develops understanding of the world, drawing through attentive touch has the potential to do so also. This suggests that the phenomenology of drawing is not necessarily specifically linked to sight …