Ways of Seeing: Embracing differences in our everyday encounters (2024)
Art Book and Experiential Workshop
in collaboration with Rendi Toh, developed as part of Co:creation Our Time to Shine, supported by the National Arts Council
Ways of Seeing: Workbook of Everyday Instructions is a participatory workshop and workbook publication co-authored with visually impaired artist Rendi Toh. Developed through an extended process of dialogue, shared observation, and mutual learning, the project explores how art-making can become a bridge between sighted and visually impaired ways of experiencing the world.
At the heart of the work is a simple but generative question: what does it mean to “see”?
Emerging from a series of exchanges, including the “I See, You See” exercises, the project traces how perception is shaped not only by vision, but by sound, instruction, memory, and interaction. While I rely on visual cues, Rendi navigates the world primarily through sound and structured instruction. By placing these modes side by side, the work reveals both the differences and unexpected overlaps in how we move, interpret, and make meaning in everyday life.
These insights are translated into an experiential workbook of everyday instructions, which functions as both artwork and pedagogical tool. Through guided prompts, participants are invited to:
Rather than positioning accessibility as accommodation, the project reframes it as a shared space of authorship and learning. It foregrounds accessibility not as a fixed solution, but as an evolving, relational practice shaped through exchange.
Grounded in lived experience, the work is also shaped by moments of everyday encounter, such as acts of kindness from strangers, small negotiations in public space, and the quiet ways people support one another across difference. These narratives surface a broader reflection: that inclusion is not only designed, but enacted through how we notice, respond, and care.
Ultimately, Ways of Seeing Together proposes that empathy is not achieved through explanation alone, but through participation, co-creation, and the willingness to inhabit another’s way of perceiving, even if only momentarily.
At the heart of the work is a simple but generative question: what does it mean to “see”?
Emerging from a series of exchanges, including the “I See, You See” exercises, the project traces how perception is shaped not only by vision, but by sound, instruction, memory, and interaction. While I rely on visual cues, Rendi navigates the world primarily through sound and structured instruction. By placing these modes side by side, the work reveals both the differences and unexpected overlaps in how we move, interpret, and make meaning in everyday life.
These insights are translated into an experiential workbook of everyday instructions, which functions as both artwork and pedagogical tool. Through guided prompts, participants are invited to:
- interpret the same situation through different sensory frameworks
- follow and construct instructions across visual and auditory modes
- experience how communication shifts when assumptions about “seeing” are unsettled
Rather than positioning accessibility as accommodation, the project reframes it as a shared space of authorship and learning. It foregrounds accessibility not as a fixed solution, but as an evolving, relational practice shaped through exchange.
Grounded in lived experience, the work is also shaped by moments of everyday encounter, such as acts of kindness from strangers, small negotiations in public space, and the quiet ways people support one another across difference. These narratives surface a broader reflection: that inclusion is not only designed, but enacted through how we notice, respond, and care.
Ultimately, Ways of Seeing Together proposes that empathy is not achieved through explanation alone, but through participation, co-creation, and the willingness to inhabit another’s way of perceiving, even if only momentarily.
The Making & The Exchange
The project grew out of an extended collaboration with visually impaired artist Rendi Toh, shaped through conversation, shared observation, storytelling, and trust. Through our exchanges, I became more aware of how differently we move through and interpret the world. While I often rely on visual cues, Rendi navigates primarily through sound, timing, instruction, and memory. This shifted the project toward a broader question of what it means to “see,” and how perception might be understood beyond vision alone.
A key part of the process was an exercise we called I See, You See, where we unpacked ordinary experiences from our respective perspectives. What emerged was not only difference, but reciprocity. Rather than translating one experience for another, the process became a shared space for holding, questioning, and reimagining both perspectives together. It also challenged assumptions about accessibility, revealing Rendi’s preference for auditory input, verbal precision, and his inventive use of assistive technologies in daily life.
As the collaboration deepened, storytelling became another important part of the work. Rendi shared moments of support, curiosity, and everyday encounter, showing how accessibility is shaped not only by systems and tools, but by kindness, attentiveness, and human connection. These exchanges, alongside observing how he navigates digital interfaces through sound and instruction, led to the development of the workbook as an experiential form participants could move through rather than simply read.
From there, the workbook and workshop took shape as a shared space for encounter, learning, and co-authorship. Rather than producing a static publication about access, I wanted to create something participants could move through, test, and inhabit. The workbook became a way to hold the duality of our everyday experiences together. It offered prompts, instructions, and exercises that invite participants to encounter difference not as abstract information, but as something to engage through action, attention, and reflection. In this sense, the workbook functions as both artwork and pedagogical tool. It does not simply explain accessibility. It asks participants to experience how perception, communication, and meaning shift when familiar visual assumptions are interrupted. Rather than explaining accessibility as a fixed idea, the project invites participants to experience how perception, communication, and meaning shift when familiar visual assumptions are unsettled. Across the process, what remained central was the understanding that empathy is built not through explanation alone, but through participation, listening, and the willingness to enter another way of perceiving.
A key part of the process was an exercise we called I See, You See, where we unpacked ordinary experiences from our respective perspectives. What emerged was not only difference, but reciprocity. Rather than translating one experience for another, the process became a shared space for holding, questioning, and reimagining both perspectives together. It also challenged assumptions about accessibility, revealing Rendi’s preference for auditory input, verbal precision, and his inventive use of assistive technologies in daily life.
As the collaboration deepened, storytelling became another important part of the work. Rendi shared moments of support, curiosity, and everyday encounter, showing how accessibility is shaped not only by systems and tools, but by kindness, attentiveness, and human connection. These exchanges, alongside observing how he navigates digital interfaces through sound and instruction, led to the development of the workbook as an experiential form participants could move through rather than simply read.
From there, the workbook and workshop took shape as a shared space for encounter, learning, and co-authorship. Rather than producing a static publication about access, I wanted to create something participants could move through, test, and inhabit. The workbook became a way to hold the duality of our everyday experiences together. It offered prompts, instructions, and exercises that invite participants to encounter difference not as abstract information, but as something to engage through action, attention, and reflection. In this sense, the workbook functions as both artwork and pedagogical tool. It does not simply explain accessibility. It asks participants to experience how perception, communication, and meaning shift when familiar visual assumptions are interrupted. Rather than explaining accessibility as a fixed idea, the project invites participants to experience how perception, communication, and meaning shift when familiar visual assumptions are unsettled. Across the process, what remained central was the understanding that empathy is built not through explanation alone, but through participation, listening, and the willingness to enter another way of perceiving.