Breaking Barriers and Rethinking Accessibility in UK Art Spaces
Traditional gallery spaces can pose several challenges for blind artists and audiences. However, as creatives push the boundaries of access, they prove that inclusion is more than simple compliance but an opportunity for innovation.
By Alilya Narikbayeva
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Wandering through the hushed halls of a gallery or a new exhibition is a weekend- favouritefavorite ritual for many of us, an opportunity to step into history and trace the evolution of art through gentle brushstrokes. But this all comes with unspoken rules. Keep silent, don’t disturb, and of course, “Don’t touch.” These simple words are casually plastered on the walls of every grand gallery you can think of. A phrase most visitors glance over, barely noticing as they weave through exhibitions. But for blind and visually impaired visitors, this instruction is more than just a rule, it’s a barrier.
Clarke Reynolds, a blind artist from Portsmouth who pioneered the use of Braille in visual art, finds this approach highly outdated. “Why do we treat art as something only meant for the eyes?” he asks. Why can’t you experience it through touch, sound, or storytelling?”
In the UK, over two million people have sight loss, according to the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), Yet most gallery spaces remain primarily geared towards visual experiences. While some institutions provide audio-description and touch tours, many still fall short, with audio description being a focal point of frustration. A recent study by RNIB found that visually impaired audiences overwhelmingly prefer natural human voices rather than the monotone and synthetic ones you usually hear in galleries. "Too often, audio descriptions are dull- ‘a red dog is sitting on a blue hill’ and that doesn’t tell visually impaired audiences much,” says Jeff Rowling, head of programming at Shape Arts, an arts organisation dedicated to supporting visually impaired artists and creatives funded by Arts Council England.
Reynolds lost his sight in one eye as a child and later became entirely blind. He worked as a dental model maker and recalls the moment his diagnosis was delivered. “They said, ‘Hand in your license, you’re going blind.’ And that was it. No sugar-coating. No support system,” he says. This, however, did not discourage him. He leaned into the artistic dreams he had harbouredharbored since childhood after being inspired during a trip to the Aspex art gallery, where he held his first exhibition years later.
Using dots in his artwork, he describes blindness as “looking through millions of dots.” So, when he first started exploring Braille, he realised, “It’s just like patterns, and so it took me only three weeks to learn it.”
Since then, Reynolds has been on a mission to redefine accessibility in art, from his solo exhibition The Power of Touch and Five Degrees to his latest exhibition, which features his first ‘Braille Landscape.’ Reynolds focuses on creating textured, interactive pieces with which both sighted, and visually impaired audiences can engage. “Braille isn’t just a language; it’s an art form itself; it’s about feeling and decoding,” he says.
Jeff Rowling has spent years pushing for change. The push for accessibility in the arts has deep roots in activism, which are also the foundations of Shape Arts, when a whole generation fought for fundamental rights like access to public facilities in the 1970s. "It's tricky,” says Rowling. “You’ll find spaces that are technically accessible, and they’ve ticked all the boxes and installed the right facilities, but they’ve never truly engaged with blind creatives.”
Shape Arts is changing this. Their 2023 Layers of Vision exhibition challenged traditional formats, moving away from the usual experiences by integrating artist-led audio descriptions and interactive elements. “We worked with blind creatives from the start,” says Rowling. “It was about what the artist felt, how they imagined it being touched, how they constructed meaning beyond the visual.” The exhibition also featured textured floor designs that allowed visitors to navigate space independently using a cane.
“Most galleries are designed with purely visual navigation,” Rowling says. “We wanted to rethink that entirely.” Shape Arts is currently working on a 2025 Beyond the Visual exhibition with the Henry Moore Institute focusing on sculptors who are blind or partially sighted. “We need to stop treating access as an add-on. When blind artists are at the heart of creative projects, you get something truly groundbreaking.”
Despite these efforts, Reynolds believes there still is work to be done. “Unfortunately, it’s always about ticking boxes in galleries and finding an artist that fits the diversity quota, but the art itself is an afterthought.” His ambition stretches beyond exhibitions. He hopes to see Braille art recognised as any other mainstream art movement. “Why can’t a Braille portrait be in the National Portrait Gallery?” It’s just another way of storytelling.”
This year, Reynolds is set to release his first children’s book, Mr.Dot, and his magical white Cane Adventures, designed to introduce children to Braille. “If kids can see Braille as something exciting, as a form of creativity rather than a necessity, it changes everything.”
For organisations like VICTA, which supports partially sighted young people and runsrun yearly Braille Art competitions, initiatives like those taken by Reynolds are crucial. For Tiffany Woods, head of activities and strategic programs, the issue is not just physical access but public perception. “The biggest challenge is people’s assumptions about what’s possible. When we ran a blind photography course, the most common reaction we got was, ‘How do they do that?’”
“We talk about inclusion a lot in the UK, but the reality is one size doesn't fit all,” Woods says. “I’d love to see more thought into what truly inclusive facilities look like, art that isn’t just adapted but designed with accessibility in mind from the start.”
Yet, there are barriers. An internal Shape Arts survey found that, out of 100 respondents, 17% of artists in the first five years of their careers face attitudinal challenges, such as a lack of awareness and understanding including limited funding opportunities, an increase of 14% from the previous year.
Artists have a clear message for institutions... to Move beyond compliance.
“There’s still a fear of ‘getting it wrong.’” Rowling says. “But the real mistake is not engaging with Visually impaired artists at all.” Mentioning that “accessibility shouldn’t be treated as an add-on. It should be integrated from the start.”
Reynolds continues pushing forward. His recent exhibitions challenge traditional notions of who art is for. “Art is about breaking rules,” he says. “If you can’t see it, touch it. If you can’t read it, feel it. There are always new ways to experience the world. We must be willing to look beyond the obvious.”
