Blind
I went to the Serpentine Gallery today to see Lygia Pape’s Magnetized Space. There I found hundreds of perfect, diagonal golden threads coming down from above, like beautiful rays of sunshine emerging from the sky. Apparently the installation is made from one continuous spool which, if true, is an amazing feat. I wanted to take some photos but it wasn’t permitted. I also desperately wanted to touch those threads!
Lygia Pape - Ttéia 1, C (Web) 2011 / Photo © 2011 Jerry Hardman-Jones
In the shop, I found a beautifully designed book. Every page I turned, I fell in love further. It is Sophie Calle’s Blind. In this work, Calle asks people blind from birth what their image of beauty is. She takes simple black and white portraits of her subjects and follows these with her interpretation of their description of beauty. As well as having normal text, the whole book is also typed in braille. It’s stunning. One of her subject’s comments made me feel sad - “I don’t need beautiful images in my brain. Since I can’t appreciate beauty, I’ve always run from it.”
Now to find justification for spending £75 on a book…
