Having discovered she has a degenerative eye condition, Bridie Doyle-Roberts is stepping into the uncertain world of impending blindness.
As a performer and artist, Bridie has used her experience to create an immersive theatrical art installation, Spectrum of Sight, to explore how we see, what we see and what it feels like when the visual world is getting lost in the dark.
Bridie piloted this immersive art installation last year at the Temple of Peace in Cardiff, and thanks to Arts Council of Wales funding, is further developing the work for exhibiting at Parc Arts, Treforest, Pontypridd between 6 and 15 March 2025.
Spectrum of Sight explores sight loss using furniture, poetry and soundscapes. By drawing upon her personal sight loss journey, Bridie evokes a sense of danger and uncertainty if you cannot trust what your eyes tell you. Domestic items of chairs and lamps with varying degrees of hazards, and a triple soundscape of bilingual poetry, natural sounds and musical composition (accessed via headsets) creates an intimate and immersive experience where the audience can explore the artworks via touch.
Spectrum of Sight has been created with creative access at it’s core, meaning that creative solutions have been embedded in the artworks or available on the website to make the content accessible for visually impaired, Deaf, hard of hearing, and neurodivergent audiences. Some of these included embedded sound, audio described elements, Braille, tactile elements, written words, video and BSL interpreted versions of the soundscapes.
There will be dedicated times where a sighted guide or BSL interpreter will be available to communicate with audiences.
Artist Bridie Doyle-Roberts said, “Losing my sight has been a process of grief and loss, acceptance, discovery and a crisis of identity. My work considers how a severely sight impaired person interacts with the world, how much we rely on touch, sound, light and contrast and whether we know what is beyond our fingertips or whether something is or is not what it seems. I hope that people will feel a sense of appreciation about what this experience is like for people like myself and understand that sight is a spectrum and not something that is on or off.”
The artworks are accompanied by a triple soundscape (on silent disco headsets); spoken word poetry by Bridie in Welsh and English, an elemental soundscape of rain bouncing off objects and a dramatic soundscape of trains entering tunnels with cello and disconcerting sound effects created by Composer, Simon McCorry.
Spectrum of Sight will be open to the public from 6-8th and 13-15th March, (Thus & Sat 10am-2pm Fridays 6pm-9pm) at Parc Arts, Treforest. The exhibition is free, spaces can be booked in advance on Eventbrite via Bridie Doyle-Roberts’ website.
Dedicated Audio and BSL supported sessions will be available on certain days and meet the Artist talks and workshops. Visit the website or contact 07852 157033 for further information.