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Abstract

This article explores the problem of depiction in tactile images, aiming to further existing understanding of what else, besides any tangible marks that may happen to be a feature of a particular image, can be said to belong to the image’s tactility. The answer to this question is sought using examples of creative practice incorporating varieties of touch perception. Analysing the examples, it emerges that the sense of touch is involved in the creation of drawings to a greater extent than tactile sensations (sensorial qualities that are conveyed during the contact). Touch enters the image area through tactile–kinaesthetic imagery based on descriptive gesture that is also shown to manifest itself in situations of non-seeing. It is also suggested that the drawing image, created using descriptive gesture, is capable of displaying intelligible links between the depicted object and the perceptual information associated with it.

Keywords

Blind perceiver drawing gesture non-seeing tactile

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The process of graphic image creation in the conditions of non-seeing

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