Photo: made from textured cellulose acetate, the images are designed to help visually impaired users to build up a mental image of Yann Arthus-Bertrand's famous photographs. © Natural History Museum.
For the fully-sighted Yann Arthus-Bertrand's aerial photographs of natural phenomena, beautiful scenery and human activity offer a stunning perspective of the world.
Now 30 aerial photographs from the celebrated Earth From The Air exhibition at the Natural History Museum have been turned into tactile images in the hope of opening the experience up to the blind and visually impaired.
A collaboration between Arthus-Bertrand, optical designer Alain Mikli and a blind advisor, the project is designed to give visually impaired visitors access to high levels of photographic detail and experience what has become an extremely popular exhibition.
Speaking at the launch of the exhibition, Yann Arthus-Bertrand explained how the tactile images make a perfect natural extension to his project.
"I have always wanted this exhibition to be accessible to everyone, but of course that was always going to be difficult to achieve for blind visitors," he said. "I am amazed by what has emerged from this collaborative project – we have learnt a lot."
Photo: Yann Arthus-Bertrand's Earth From The Air exhibition at the Natural History Museum has so far been visited by around two million people. © Natural History Museum.
The images have been made from cellulose acetate and deploy layered black and white scans of the original photographs, interpreted in relief using precision etching techniques.
Using different textures to suggest buildings, landscapes or animals the pictures allow visitors to use their sense of touch to build up an image. But do they work?
As a blind visitor, Barry Ginley, Disability and Access Officer at the V&A described his experiences of the show to the 24 Hour Museum.
"It varied from picture to picture, because of the amount of content for each one," he said. "Such as the first picture of Manhatten and the trade towers – there was so much to take on board so it needed some description, but the picture of camels was very easy to follow."
"It can open up the exhibition," he added, explaining how more museums and galleries have begun to develop tactile objects and images. "It is something I feel museums ought to be looking more at, it isn't just useful for visualy impaired visitors, people like to touch."
Photo: "I have always wanted this exhibition to be accessible to everyone, but of course that was always going to be difficult to achieve for blind visitors," explained Yann Arthus-Bertrand. © Natural History Museum.
It's also something that the creators of the Earth From The Air tactile images feel their work can be of use and contribute to.
"What's exciting is that we have created a whole new descriptive language that enriches the experience of something as challenging as aerial photography for blind and partially sighted people," explained designer Alain Mikli.
"It's clear the technique we have used has exciting possibilities to be used in other areas of visual interpretation for blind people."
The tactile images will be on display alongside smaller versions of the originals in a space designed to be accessible to blind and partially sighted visitors until October 31.
They join the 150 enlarged photographs that make up the original show and which have been on display in the Natural History Museum's East Gardens since June last year.
