1.00pm - By RENEE KIRIONA
Julie Woods-Dalloway has never seen a piece of art before but at the weekend she got to feel one instead.
The 38-year-old blind woman from Dunedin was among those who attended the opening of the country's first art display to make the visual arts accessible to the blind community.
"It's good to go to a gallery where they ask you to touch rather than not to touch," Ms Woods-Dalloway said.
Auckland artist Glenn Heenan, 28, put the "More than Looking" exhibition together so blind people could enjoy art.
He was also inspired to do it after his grandmother lost her sight.
He selected a dozen images from a photojournalism book he had been researching and approached some of the country's well-known poets to write about the scenes depicted. They included Keri Hulme, Glenn Colquhoun and Ruth Dallas.
The writings were then put into braille and the photos were blown up and embossed with the contours of the image.
The exhibition is at Te Tuhi gallery in Pakuranga until August 29.
Touching a picture is worth 1000 words
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