5pm – 9pm

“What do you miss when losing your sight?

I miss seeing the stars at night.”

A common quote often said by visually impaired people.

What if we could bring the stars back to life?

The overall piece will enable sighted and blind people to have a shared experience through braille and light and sound.

The venue will be dark with low seating that will mean that all visitors will be able to lay or sit back and look up.

Above them will be a canopy of stars written in Braille and the message will be there to be interpreted by the sighted. Partially sighted people will also be able to see the dots as stars due to the contrast in the light.

Sighted will be able interpret the bespoke words, created by Clarke, that will be related to the piece. Encouraging the understanding of Braille.

There will also be audio, created by another volunteer that will be the sound of stars with the source of this audio the stars themselves.

A fully immersive experience of Clarke’s art, for sight, hearing and touch. This experience will be inclusive for all.

Artist Bio:

Art is my life and as a child there was no other career for me. It started when I saw the painting ‘the yellow cow’ by the artist Franz Marc it opened up my imagination of what art can be.

I was born with limited sight in my right eye but that never stopped me doing what I love, being creative. Unfortunately, due to kidney problems I had to leave school early however I fought back and studied art at a higher level gaining a BA honour’s degree in model making.

I was a dental model maker I loved my job and creating art in my spare time then the worst thing that could happen for a visual person I started to lose my sight in my other eye. I had to give up my job and was left in limbo but I didn’t stop there.

I still had my passion for art but found it hard to engage with the materials and I wanted my art to be experienced by everyone no matter their visual impairment so my art is fully accessible through sound and touch

As my sight decreases, one thing has always stayed the same. The use of dots in my work, as I’ve always been a fan of pointillism, and I see through a thousand dots. Now the dots mean something, as I’ve explored braille.

I try to push the boundaries of what Braille was intended for, to bring life, through Braille, to visual impairment through my artistic language.