Lisa Murphy, a Toronto artist, wants her work to be felt up.
Her book, Tactile Mind, is a collection of nude, 3D photographs, raised by clay, with the purpose of servicing the blind.
“People have called it the book of porn for blind people,” she admits.
Tactile Mind began as a simple idea, she says, and a challenging one at that.
Her images of naked bodies and genitalia are created from diagramming foil and clay. Each photo is accompanied by a braille description.
“As a visual artist, it’s important to encompass all the aspects, even for those who can’t see,” she says.
Some people have been very supportive of her project, Murphy says, while others have deemed her crazy.
But at the very least, she’s glad people have been critical about her work.
“I can’t discredit people’s opinions because art is subjective,” she says.
Despite the varied feedback, Murphy says she considers Tactile Mind her most successful work — she just doesn’t appreciate its classification as porn.
“I’ve never called it porn,” she says. “I think that’s more of a selling point for media.”
Porn or not, Tactile Mind is sold at Toronto adult stores such as Northbound Leathers and Come As You Are, as well as online.
Holly Hirst, co-owner of Come As You Are, says the work is not a bestseller, but definitely attracts customer attention.
“It’s something that people are drawn to and intrigued by,” Hirst says.
Enza Silano, manager of Northbound Leathers, agrees the book doesn’t cater to everybody, though response has been positive.
“I think she tapped into something that’s really going to take off,” Silano says. “It’s innovative and other people should pursue it.”
Tactile Mind hasn’t also caught the eye of Carleton Disability Awareness Centre’s (CDAC) programming co-ordinator, Colleen Brethour, but she says she finds the idea of Tactile Mind extremely interesting.
“It’s something out there and being viewed, at the very least, as something legitimate,” Brethour says.
“If you’re going to commit to something, why not push the boundaries?” she says.
But Murphy says her goal was not to have her work suffice as pornography, but to “open the box a bit” and push the limits.
Tactile Mind has caught the eyes of media outlets like CNN and most recently, Murphy was quoted in TIME magazine.
“As an artist of international media, if it can launch dialogue internationally, then it’s all I could hope for, and it’s totally successful,” Murphy says.
