specialty focus
A low vision participant exploring the HIV and its capsid at a Sensory Science Exhibition 2020 , artwork by Erica Tandori . Picture : Supplied .
“ Ophthalmologists can look into my eyes … but they don ’ t know what the world looks like from my perspective .
Reading with your senses
The blind artist bringing science to life
By Eleanor Campbell
Melbourne-based artist and researcher Dr Erica Tandori has enabled people with low-vision or blindness to touch , feel and experience the world of infection , immunity and nutrition in a new exhibition .
As part of Science Week 2021 , Monash University ’ s Rossjohn Lab exhibited a suite of multisensory , interactive science books , which explore the digestive system and role of immunity in a healthy diet .
Dr Tandori , who lost her vision in her early twenties , said the exhibit , titled ‘ My Goodness ’, would allow people of all ages , abilities and diverse needs to learn about the wonders of microbiology .
“ Science is about us , it ’ s about our world ,” she said .
“ It belongs to all of us , not just to the scientists , and not just to the people who can see it .
“ We should all have access to it , and equal access to it .”
The exhibit was launched in a collaboration between Monash ’ s Biomedicine Discovery Institute ’ s Rossjohn Laboratory and Swinburne University ’ s Interaction Design Lab .
Using large print text , braille , tactile artworks , haptic and 3D audio , visual tracking and sensor technologies , Dr Tandori said the books will offer an immersive reading experience .
“ I was inspired by some kids books that were really exploratory , and also inspired by books in themselves , like being a kid and sitting by the fire with my huge Reader ’ s Digest Book of the Universe .
“ I thought , wouldn ’ t it be lovely to have kids being awe-inspired about books again ? But what happens when you actually have blindness , like I have now ? How do we deliver these books to kids with low vision ?”
Over half a million people in Australia are estimated to live with blindness or visual impairment . A lack of accessible health information and service design continues to be a significant barrier facing visually impaired communities , according to Blind Services Australia .
By using art to describe her loss of vision to healthcare professionals , Dr Tandori said she has become empowered to guide the management of her condition .
“ It is honestly the best way to describe this disease , because I always realised that ophthalmologists can look into my eyes .
“ They ’ ve got thousands of dollars ’ worth of equipment , they ’ re specialists , but they don ’ t know what the world looks like from my perspective .
“ In this way , the patient becomes part of the dialogue , not just the recipient of what they ’ re being told in the healthcare setting .”
A LIFE IN ART Growing up in the heart of Armadale ’ s contemporary art precinct , Dr Tandori said her journey into artistry began when her family opened a gallery after migrating from Europe during the 1960s .
Her talent for drawing and painting was fed at an early age , framing iconic paintings and chatting with famous Australian artists who would visit the High Street gallery .
“ It was such a fortunate education , and then I could walk up the street and see all these amazing galleries that were opening up , so I was really , really lucky ,” she said .
“ And I remember selling my first paintings at age 11 or 12 .”
After obtaining a philosophy degree from Melbourne University , Tandori began noticing a decline in her vision . She was then diagnosed with Stargardt ’ s disease , a form of muscular dystrophy , shortly after she enrolled in art college .
In later years as her eyesight began to deteriorate , she discovered the power of sculptural design after landing a job at the Rossjohn Laboratory at Monash University .
Her past works have since used chicken wire and couscous to make a model of the HIV virus , and taken oats , dough and flour to form a sculpture of a yeast cell .
She said her interactive exhibitions have had extremely positive reactions from the low vision and blind community .
“ When it ’ s all said and done , it ’ s about really communicating and inspiring these people who are so often left without anyone taking any notice of them at all , or including them in dialogue .
“ This is the way , I think , that we do it , through engagement with multisensory modalities .
“ If we do that for people with blindness and low vision , it seems to me that we will then be able to engage and include just about everyone . It almost makes it like the baseline for universal design .”
Tandori plans to take the ‘ My Goodness ’ exhibition to rural and regional Australia in the future . ■
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