DIALOGUE BEYOND SIGHT | DIALOGUE

Large Print Exhibition Guide

Gallery@oxo, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse

Street, South Bank, London SE1 9PH

Private View Tuesday 12 July 6.30pm - 8.30pm

Open daily Wednesday 13 - Sunday 17 July 2016

11am - 6pm Admission free

Curated by Andrew Mashigo and Rachel Gadsden

Dialogue Beyond Sight ® is a MaMoMi project supported using public

funding by Arts Council England. gallery@oxo is owned and managed

by Coin Street Community Builders: www.coinstreet.org

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Dialogue Beyond Sight Exhibition is a cross

disciplinary multisensory collaboration

featuring the works of visually impaired artists

and performers.

This exhibition brings together emerging and

mainstream artists and performers in response

to the theme dialogue. Collaborators examine

the links between artist and audience, and

practitioner and practice, presenting an eclectic

range of artworks that include paintings,

illustrations, sculptures and installations, with

performances that include recital, storytelling

and classical songs.

Dialogue inherently exists within creative

practice and can sometimes be misunderstood

or completely disregarded. Artists and

performers lead the authorship in

interpretation of their works so it is objective,

and not subjective.

Supporting the idea of objective interpretation,

a series of scheduled workshops led by visually

impaired artists, performers and other

contributors providing an opportunity to find

out a little more about their practice.

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For those visitors requiring a quiet tour of the

exhibition, please contact us for an individual

tour designed for your needs.

Booking is essential as places are limited.

Email info@mamomiinitiative.com or speak to

someone in the event planning team.

Sally Booth. John Bramblitt. Kimberley

Burrows. Lynn Cox. Fiona Dunn. Rachel

Gadsden. Julie Imus. Zara Jayne. Lloyd

McCullough. Ian McNamara. Victoria Oruwari

Kate Portal. Magdalena Rutkowska. Michael

Williams

Dialogue Beyond Sight ®

Copyright © 2016 Mamomi Initiative CIC

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ARTISTS

Sally Booth London, UK

Sally is a visual artist whose main specialism is

drawing and painting. Her work also includes

photographic light-boxes, 3D drawing

installations, collaborative projects with artists

and writers and live participative work with the

public.

Much of her work is site specific in nature,

made in response to particular locations and

the people she meets. Her residencies have

included places as diverse as Shetland,

Cornwall, Hastings and Liverpool, working on

the spot, often to a time limit and in all

weathers.

Sally has had exhibitions at Tate Modern and

South Bank, London, Bluecoat Liverpool, and

Scottish Parliament Edinburgh.

She has also devised and run workshops in a

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range of cultural and community settings with

groups including school children, young people,

children and families, older people, people with

learning disabilities and women prisoners.

Sally's Walking Boots 2015

56 x 21 cm

Ink, iron oxide and mine slime on handmade

paper made from local vegetation, North

Cornwall

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John Bramblitt

Texas, USA John’s art has been sold in over thirty

countries and he has appeared on CBS Evening

News with Katie Couric, ABC, NBC, FOX,

Discovery Channel, and BBC. He has also been

featured in The New York Times, Psychology

Today, and has designed artwork for major

film productions. He's the subject of award

winning documentary "Line of Sight" and

“Bramblitt.”

His work has received much recognition

including the “Most Inspirational Video of

2008” from YouTube and three Presidential

Service Awards for his innovative art

workshops. He is the current selectee for the

Texas Governor’s Disability Employment

Awareness poster and his documentary,

“Shouting in the Dark”, is the story of

Bramblitt's life and his journey navigating the

new territory of visual impairment.

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John lost the last of his vision in 2001 due to

complications with epilepsy and Lyme's

disease, but in discovering painting, in John’s

words, “Art reshaped my life.” John’s paintings

are intensely personal, and his

workshops include adaptive techniques for

people with disabilities.

Ben 2016

28 x 36 cm

Oil on canvas

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Kimberley Burrows

Manchester, UK

Kimberley is a self-taught illustrator currently

studying for an Illustration Degree at Leeds

College of Art where she is a Student

Representative, Student Ambassador and

Student Governor. She was previously RNIB’s

Young Illustrator of the Year 2014, creating six

illustrations published in their Insight

magazine.

Despite her severe visual impairment,

Kimberley has been involved in many projects

including creating a front cover for the UK

Scouts 'Get Active' supplement, illustrating a

piece for the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust as

part of their Memory Makers project, producing

greetings cards for Henshaws and Foster Care

Associates, designing a composition to

celebrate the 150th birthday of John Lewis

displayed at The Trafford Centre and

generating an illustration for the “One Man’s

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Vision” exhibition displayed at Salford Museum

and Art Gallery.

Kimberley has loved art all of her life and uses

this creative outlet to allow her to draw from

emotions and experiences which she translates

into colourful imagery. Her wish is to pursue a

career in children's books illustrations, focusing

heavily on accessibility and inclusion.

The Gingerbread Man 2016

Watercolour, acrylic mono-print

30 x 30 cm

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Lynn Cox

London, UK

Since undertaking a BA and MA at Wimbledon

School of Art, Lynn's artwork has concentrated

on questioning the validity of the image as

"spectacle" (as a passive representation of

reality).

Challenging the ocularcentricity of Western

culture, her work is designed to elevate

sensations, perceptions and language to a

higher status (which is usually granted to the

poorly visual), without denigrating sight and

the image to a subservient position.

Since the 1990's, Lynn has exhibited her

concept-driven mixed and multi-media art

nationally and internationally, including group

shows in London, Cologne, Glasgow and San

Francisco.

She has also established a number of

commercial arts, coaching and training

products and services, including Scented or

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Tactile Greetings Cards, and Braille Identity

and Business Cards.

Lynn's art is informed, but not dominated, by

her visual impairment. In fact, the art is

intrinsic to her work as a Mentor and Life

Coach, Disability Arts Consultant and Equality

and Awareness Trainer. Likewise, these other

aspects of Lynn's career feed back into her

art.

Resilience 2015

Copper wire with wooden base

30 x 26 x 25 cm

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Rachel Gadsden

London, UK

Rachel is a multi-award winning artist, her

major commissions including resident artist for

Hampton Court Palace (2008 - 2009), 4

projects for UK Parliament (2009 - 2015) and

"Unlimited Global Alchemy" and "Starting Line"

for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

She represented the UK with "This Breathing

World" for Qatar - UK Year of Culture

2013 with British Council and the Qatari

Government, which was formally opened by

HRH Prince Charles. Further international

commissions include "Talking Souls" in

collaboration with BC South Africa & Artscape

and "Al Noor - Fragile Vision", an ACE and

British Council funded project in collaboration

with multiple partners in UK and Middle East.

In 2016 Gadsden was awarded an Artist

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International Development Fund Award and an

a-n Travel Bursary to travel to Palestine. She

has been appointed lead artist for the Lighting

of the Rio Paralympic Torch Festival at Stoke

Mandeville Stadium. In Nov 2016 Gadsden will

be awarded an Honorary Doctorate from

London South Bank University.

Gadsden was awarded the National Diversity

Award 2013: "Positive Role Model for

Disability", and was shortlisted for the

European Diversity Awards, Hero of the Year

2014 and won Breakthrough UK - National

Independent Living Award influencing disabled

people’s participation in society.

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Beyond Sight 2016

Mixed media on Somerset paper

50 x 60 cm

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Julie Imus

Iowa, USA

Julie is a visually impaired artist and lover of

nature, animals and the outdoors

who was interested in painting from an early

age. Her paintings are mainly done in oils.

In June of 2007 Julie lost the vision in her left

eye, after already having had retinal damage

in her right eye. At that point she thought she

would never paint again but in the fall of 2011,

she felt God very strongly tell her to go back to

painting, and as she says, “and by God’s hand,

I am still able to do so.”

She graduated from the Cambridge-Isanti High

School in 1977, with her main interests being

art and music. She continues to explore

different painting styles and is currently trying

her hands at monochrome paintings as she

thinks they will look very strong and definitive.

Julie has had her work shown online via Artists

Showcase International in London and at the

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Freeborn County Arts Initiative in Albert Lea,

Minnesota, and also has some of her works in

private collections.

In the Meadows 2014

Oil on canvas

61 x 51 cm

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Lloyd McCullough

Cambridge, UK

Lloyd was born with Ushers Syndrome and his

sight continues to deteriorate. He has an HND

and BA (Hons) in Illustration.

Even from an early age Lloyd has been

interested in drawing. As a child, he collected

cartoons and comics, and enjoyed learning

about comic characters like Superman and

Transformers. Action film characters played by

Arnold Schwarzenegger influenced the way he

drew the human muscles and body tone.

Lloyd is an aspiring film writer and has

already created and directed his own short

film, “Awakening”, in 2011. He considers

this his personal achievement, and likes to use

his situation to "encourage people to be

unafraid of their disabilities.”

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The Forest Keeper 2009

Computer-aided painting

38 x 55 cm

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Magdalena Rutkowska

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Magdalena runs Ike Studio from her home in

Northern Ireland. She has been visually

impaired since she was six and has no retina in

both eyes.

Magdalena loves animals and has been

rehabilitating dogs and cats since 2003.

Her art work is created on canvas or thick

cardboard, using strips of paper of

various lengths, weights and textures which

she then twists, folds and curls, producing

interesting objects and shapes.

Magdalena uses her early memory of colours to

make objects with different subjects.

Sometimes her partner may give her an audio

description of objects she may want to use or

make prints of objects prepared on special

paper to help her visualize certain objects.

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The Possibilities 2016

3D picture on canvas

20 x 60 cm

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Michael Williams

Tennessee, USA

Michael is a self-taught artist who paints from

the soul, fulfilling his dream to paint. He was

diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease (also

known as fundus flavimaculatus) as a

teenager, a type of macular degeneration that

typically surfaces before the age of 20.

Michael has been visually impaired since birth

and started drawing and painting at the age of

10. He took an interest in art when he saw his

mother do a sketch of a cowboy riding off

toward the sunset. That helped him make the

decision to pursue and harvest his ability to

paint.

He specialises in acrylics, oils, pen and ink and

watercolour mediums.

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The Three Swans 2003

Oil on canvas

71 x 56 cm

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PERFORMERS

Fiona Dunn

London, UK

Fiona is a singer and songwriter in a

contemporary style with various influences

from pop to folk to classical.

Singing is the centre of her musicianship and

she started piano lessons at the age of two

before learning the guitar and percussion later,

as well as vocal training.

Before moving to London in 2014 from

Worcester, where she lived for many years,

Fiona participated in the “Three Choirs

Festival” for three years running, performing in

Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester

Cathedrals.

Fiona sings in three different choirs in London

and has participated in choral worship at

various church services. She has recently sung

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at choirs in various Cathedrals, including

Portsmouth, Southwark and Coventry.

During performances, you will hear songs with

carefully crafted lyrics and haunting melodies,

complimented by an angelic voice. She says: "I

am classically trained and for music to be

meaningful, it must come from the heart. The

most important thing in a performance is to

convey an emotion or a story as these things

breathe life into a song, changing it from

something good into a rare, beautiful jewel."

Fiona regularly works with children in West

London, where she sings to toddlers and their

parents, accompanied by Hayley the ukulele.

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Zara Jayne

London, UK

Zara is a performer, workshop facilitator, poet

and writer who likes to use the montage of

creative elements available to her in her

performances.

She trained at the Royal Central School of

Speech and Drama, and has performed at

Theatre Fan Club (Toynbee Studios); in "Down

The River Up The Road" Queens Theatre,

Hornchurch; “Prometheus Awakes” Maritime

Museum Greenwich; "A Mother’s Voice”

Barking Theatre; and "Sensory Immersion",

Acola Theatre.

She has just finished filming for a part in Holby

City (BBC1) and is currently rehearsing for "In

Sight Theatre" debut at Edinburgh Fringe

Festival on the 13th and 14th of August 2016.

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Ian McNamara

Birmingham, UK

Ian aspires to sing professionally. Singing is

something has always had great passion for

and he recently has started to attend courses

and training sessions to help him develop his

natural skills to the height he aspires to.

His private singing teacher and close friends

continue to encourage him believing he can

really be an inspiration to many others.

Gaining a lot more exposure and experience

are Ian’s main goals and he is also interested

in public speaking. He is getting his grade 8 in

singing and can also play the piano and flute.

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Victoria Oruwari

London, UK

An award winning soprano, Victoria’s repertoire

covers early classical to the modern day

musical theatre, jazz and folksongs.

Victoria is a frequent recitalist in and out of the

UK, performing at venues including Kensington

Palace, Royal Festival Hall, Colston Hall, The

Ferrari Museum in Italy with the orchestra from

the Pavarotti Foundation, Agip Recital Hall

Lagos with the Muson Orchestra at their

gala concert, various events hosted by Shell

Africa and the Liberty Festival in London.

Victoria has been the subject of two TV

documentaries by Attitude Pictures in New

Zealand after which they invited her to sing at

their awards night in Auckland. She made a

guest appearance with the British

Paraorchestra on the One Show as the soloist

in BBC Music Day 2015, and performed a

duet with Jarvis Cocker as part of 6 Music

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Festival 2016. Her most recent operatic role

was Mrs Peachum in Graeae Theatre’s co-

production of The Threepenny Opera which

toured the UK for 5 months.

Victoria is also a teacher of singing, and a

songwriter whose music has been recently

performed on BBC Radio 3’s “In Tune”

Program. She currently sings with the British

Paraorchestra.

Victoria can be booked to perform at your

event. Visit her website to hear her sing and

for more information.

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Kate Portal

London, UK

Kate is a singer-storyteller and Boundless Arts

performer whose work intertwines her love for

theatre, folk music and storytelling. She also

performs both the spoken and sung word with

musical instrumentation.

Using storytelling that orates traditional

material from a personal perspective, she likes

to give old tales the freedom to create a

contemporary experience.

Kate also teaches music to adults with learning

disabilities at Morley College, as well as

offering Disability Equality Training to staff.

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WORKSHOPS

Advance booking is necessary. Email

bookings@dialoguebeyondsight.com

Workshop Schedule

1. Wednesday 13 July: 12noon - 2pm

The Talking Untouchables

Bernat Franquesa, Touch Graphics Europe

2. Wednesday 13 July: 3pm - 5pm

Talking Bio-mimicry: UltraCane

Julie Davies, UltraCane

3. Thursday 14 July: 12noon - 2pm

Talking Bio-mimicry: UltraBike

Julie Davies, UltraCane

4. Thursday 14 July: 3pm - 5pm

Running Beyond Sight

Lynn Cox and Glen Turner

5. Friday 15 July: 12noon - 2pm

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Drawing Beyond Sight

Rachel Gadsden

6. Friday 15 July: 3pm - 5pm

You Can Sing!

Victoria Oruwari

7. Saturday 16 July: 12noon - 2pm

Chocolate Beyond Sight

Lynn Cox

8. Saturday 16 July: 3pm - 5pm

Sight Loss Awareness

Lynn Cox and Sarah Newman

9. Sunday 17 July: 12noon - 2pm

Engage, Explore, Educate

The MaMoMi Team

10. Sunday 17 July: 3pm - 4pm

Curator’s Talk: Dialogue Beyond Sight

Andrew Mashigo and Rachel Gadsden

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About MaMoMi

MaMoMi is a trading name of Mamomi Initiative

CIC, a Community Interest Company and

social enterprise. The main objective of the

organisation is to enhance the experiences and

expand the possibilities available to visually

impaired and those at risk of exclusion. We use

visual culture as the platform for engagement

and ask you to join our journey to engage,

explore and educate.

Art and design add an enormous value to

the community and society as a whole, and

presents a great way of interacting with our

visual environment.

Art gives us the opportunity to explore various

ideas and subject matters and is an essential

part of public education. Design allows us to

explore the function and ergonomics of

materials and objects. Experience and research

continues to show the value of visual culture

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and we believe it is important that these values

and opportunities are open and inclusive to all.

As we continue to embed best practice within

our processes, we spread the goals of

improved access and ultimately strive to

support an inclusive society where the

appreciation of and engagement with visual

culture is not the single privilege of sighted

enthusiasts and practitioners.

Credits

Curators: Andrew Mashigo and Rachel

Gadsden

Interpretation: Lynn Cox and Lydia Reid

Art Installation: Mikei Hall

Website Design: Matteo Divito, MrSite

Graphic Design: Matt Potter, FirstPoint print

SE1

Wall Panels and Tactile Prints: Bernat

Franquesa, Touch Graphics Europe

Braille Wall Texts: Arts Coaching Training

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Large Print Catalogue Design: MaMoMi

Braille Catalogue Design: Jane Sellers,

Braille Transcription Services

Audio Description: Tim Hayton

Press Officer: Sarah Newman

Catering: Café Sunlight CIC

Cinematography: Paul Lewis

Photography: Hamish Roberts

Social Media: James Hallam

Contact Us

Telephone: 0333 014 4244

Email: info@mamomiinitiative.com

Bookings: bookings@dialoguebeyondsight.com

Website: www.mamomiinitiative.com

Website: www.dialoguebeyondsight.com