Common Sense
Common Sense was a collaborative group exhibition at Art in Motion on the Lake Wobegon Trail that challenged artists to consider how visual art could be experienced by people with vision loss. Developed with local artists, including vision-impaired artist Isaiah Okongo and myself, the exhibition invited artists to move beyond the expectation that art must be experienced primarily through sight.
My participation was informed by both my work as a DeafBlind Intervener and my practice as an artist. I created a series of interactive sculptures called Trust Boxes, inviting visitors to overcome their hesitation and reach inside each box without knowing what they would find. The boxes explored the ways we make assumptions about people based on their outward appearance. Some appeared beautiful and inviting on the outside but concealed a false bottom, making them surprisingly shallow. Others looked rough or intimidating from the outside but contained soft, comforting materials within. A few were exactly as they appeared. Together, the boxes encouraged visitors to question first impressions and consider what might exist beneath the surface.
I also created an autobiographical tactile book that invited visitors to "read" my story through touch. Natural and familiar materials became a language for memory and experience. Leather and straw represented growing up on a farm and showing horses, while beads, string, and rope formed a tactile representation of the dividing cell and the birth of my twins.
Common Sense gave me the opportunity to explore accessibility not simply as an accommodation, but as an artistic consideration. By incorporating touch, texture, interaction, and personal storytelling, the exhibition asked visitors to slow down and experience art through senses beyond sight.