A multimedia exhibition exploring perception through the history of 19th-century education for people who are blind or visually impaired, in which touch, hearing, and smell play as central a role as sight

Common Touch: The Art of the Senses in the History of the Blind is a multimedia exhibition exploring perception through the history of education for people who are blind or visually impaired, in which touch, hearing, and smell play as central a role as sight. On view at the Library Company of Philadelphia from April to October 2016, Teresa displayed 19th-century educational materials from the Library's Michael Zinman Collection of Printing for the Blind with her original artworks to create a richly interactive, multi-sensory experience.

At the heart of the exhibition are six works — called Gifts, after the pedagogical objects developed by educator Friedrich Froebel — each created in response to a figure whose life and accomplishments challenged the narrow assumptions about blindness that defined 19th-century society and persist in different forms today. The Gifts include Gift #1, a paper sculpture owl constructed from passages in Braille and raised type; Gift #2, a puzzle-like wall sculpture of enlarged letterforms from the correspondence of Jennie Partridge, an educated blind American woman of the late 19th century; and Gift #3, wooden geometric forms inspired by mathematician Nicholas Saunderson. Throughout, Teresa curated materials from the Zinman Collection and objects on loan from the New York Institute for Special Education, selecting and placing them in dialogue with her own works so that each informed the reading of the other.

Gift #4 translates Thomas Wiggins's composition March Timpani into silkscreen prints with raised ink. Born enslaved and likely autistic, Wiggins — known as "Blind Tom" — was a prodigious pianist and composer who performed for fifty years while his owner retained legal control of him long after emancipation. Teresa assigned a number to each note based on its position on the piano keyboard, further divided by note length, then mapped the data into patterned grid works readable visually or by touch.

Gift #5 is a large table map inspired by surveyor and road builder John Metcalf. An embroidered grid of pink, green, and brown threads denotes different environments in the north of England where Metcalf worked, with porcelain forms representing landforms readable by touch. Gift #6 is an olfactometer presenting two vignettes — one from a Wiggins recital, the other from Metcalf's youth — experienced through scent and sound.

Developed in close collaboration with co-curators Rachel D'Agostino and Erika Piola of the Library Company's Visual Culture Program, accessibility specialist Katherine Allen, and scientists at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, Common Touch was designed to be fully accessible to visitors of all abilities. The exhibition was accompanied by a series of public programs including performances, lectures, and a panel discussion with the Vision Council. Learn more at commontouch.librarycompany.org/events.

Common Touch was made possible by a grant from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

Common Touch: The Art of the Senses in the History of the Blind, the exhibition catalog, includes an introduction by Stephen Kuusisto, author of Planet of the Blind and University Professor in Disability Studies at Syracuse University. Published by the Library Company of Philadelphia, 2016.

Publication Warne, Vanessa. By Touch Alone: Blindness and Reading in Nineteenth-Century Culture. University of Michigan Press, 2025. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12860987. Accessed 21 Apr. 2026.

Vision Council Katherine Allen · Henry Butler · Suzanne Erb · Edery Herrera · Dorrie Rush

Partnerships Free Library of Philadelphia · Monell Chemical Senses Center · New York Institute for Special Education · Philadelphia Jazz Project · Philly Touch Tours

Learn more about Common Touch at commontouch.librarycompany.org.