https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca Audio Description in the Making Thu, 17 Feb 2022 15:41:28 +0000 https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca en https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/Iridescent-Constellations Tue, 25 Jan 2022 18:27:44 +0000 Audio Description in the Making https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/Iridescent-Constellations Artist Statement Iridescent Constellations is immersive audio fiction that explores pleasure, death and desire through following the slow, steady process of fermenting mead alongside the story of a brewing romance between two beekeepers.&nbsp; -Salima Punjani &amp; Diego Bravo Pacheco <img width="3644" height="1517" width_o="3644" height_o="1517" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c8bf1acc834b391d6c2c7b56bf9ab214038c6c2d6c5716cca228fc4f6e284f8c/pexels-arthur-brognoli-2260933-modified.jpg" data-mid="133593076" border="0" data-scale="98" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c8bf1acc834b391d6c2c7b56bf9ab214038c6c2d6c5716cca228fc4f6e284f8c/pexels-arthur-brognoli-2260933-modified.jpg" /> ID: Two beekeepers holding a piece of honeycomb. Iridescent Constellations Text version: Iridescent Constellations Story written by Diego Bravo Pacheco Audio descriptions and sound design by Salima Punjani Salima: Bubbles fizzle, pop and burst to the surface of a large glass jar fermenting honey to make mead, an alcoholic drink. Their subtle vibrations smack against the side of the glass. &nbsp; Bees fly together, their buzzing amplifies the closer they are together.&nbsp; Sweet nectar attracts them to the stems of flowers. They fill up on the nourishing sweet liquid and carry sticky pollen back to their queen.&nbsp; Diego:&nbsp; The buzzing sound of bubbles the bubbling sound of bees&nbsp; It all, most of all, happens in the dark It is the night, and while the mead ferments&nbsp; an iridescent&nbsp; constellation of liquid combustion takes place &nbsp;&nbsp; bees kill themselves to work Salima: Two beekeepers have blonde vibrant yellow hair similar to the coat bees wear. They shield themselves from bee stings by wearing nets and covering their bodies with thick fabric. Their skin is warm and burned from working in the sun all day.&nbsp; Diego:&nbsp; While the mead ferments, while it ages, the room also hosts two beekeepers.&nbsp; Their lips bubble too, in syncopation to the rhythm of the rising bubbles containing the mead in the big glass bottle.&nbsp; Unlike bees, killing themselves to work,the beekeepers are naked, they drink yellow coloured mead from high glasses and from each other's mouths. Bubbles of desire from the lid of their eyes spark Eyes are containers in that way too, brewing lust and attraction they rise seeming to oppose gravity &nbsp; Salima: The season is changing from summer to fall. Leaves are changing colour and falling from trees slowly spiralling before landing on the ground.. The wind is cool and crisp. It smells like sweet decay. Soft steps rustle the resting leaves.&nbsp; Diego:&nbsp; It's the beginning of the fall&nbsp; In the dark, they drink from every possible cavity of their bodies&nbsp; they drink the buzzing beverage from 2020 falls harvest She drinks from his eyes She is only wearing a&nbsp;hand-knitted yellow hat made out of wool &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; He drinks mead from her belly button, he is just wearing cotton socks decorated with black and white squares [Audio of the melancholic, longing tones of Portuguese Fado plays in the distance.] Diego:&nbsp; Fado music sounds distant through the pale gray granite wall, while they drink from each other. Bees kill themselves working, so keepers can kill each other with pleasure&nbsp; It all happens in the dark, while Fado music sung by a woman fades behind the walls. Before sunrise, the bees start to orient themselves to collect the last drops of the succulent early fall city flowers Before sunrise the keeper with the yellow hat&nbsp; is gone from the room where the mead keeps fermenting with effervescence&nbsp; Salima: Parc du Portugal has a gazebo accentuated with intricately detailed tiles. Cobblestones pave the ground, giving a feel of visiting an old romantic European city.&nbsp; Diego:&nbsp; This is happening at an old building right across Parc du Portugal. It has an old, faded brown door, unlike the houses and buildings around it.&nbsp; If one opens the door and goes down the stairs right after getting into the beekeepers place, the basement of the apartment is found, which has been turned into a music studio containing a black drum set,&nbsp; a stand-up base, a keyboard with green labels indicating the notes of each key, there are also some red guitars, ukuleles and Cuban percussion instruments.&nbsp; At the end of the room, in the deepest darkest corner, there is an old Singer sewing machine table. It holds the large, bubbling, buzzing bottle mead. Sunrise happens, and through the small squared window of the basement. Light cuts through the mead bottle. Liquid gold bubbles gather at the tip, ready to burst and release. Outside, she has returned, craving his bubbling eyes looking at her deeply before orgasm Inside, in between the stand-up bass and the bottle of mead, he peacefully sleeps naked on a couch, the skin around his eyes is sticky from the mead that was drunk out of it, it looks like traces of tears around the base of his eye holes. Salima: Stains of mead are found all over an old yet luxurious, worn in, gray Turkish rug where the couch is placed at&nbsp; Diego: Outside, she gently lays down a canvas in front of the wooden door, her hands are sticky from mead and semen&nbsp; On the canvas there is an oil painting, it is the back of an old rusty boat sinking in front of some dry and brown-coloured cliffs as pinkish sunset colours invade thehorizon.&nbsp; The beekeeper bottles the mead, funnelling the abundant bubbly, yellow, sticky mead into smaller bottles. The air smells of sweet fermentation, the culmination of months of slow, steady transformation of honey and water.&nbsp; Inside,&nbsp; bubbles will keep on rising frantically to the top of the container&nbsp; until the beginning of late winter season&nbsp; It is then when the beekeeper wearing the square patterned socks bottles it.&nbsp; No mead will be brewed during spring and winter&nbsp; The buzzing of bubbles from desire eyes and mead containers The bubbling of bees wings and alveoli combusting in the dark Salima: Bees work themselves to death,&nbsp; so keepers ‘kill each other’ with pleasure.&nbsp; All sounds in the piece were found on www.freesound.org under creative commons. We have listed the accounts and sounds below if you would like to use them. Thank you to all the contributors below for supporting us with your recordings.&nbsp; https://freesound.org/people/Bleachbear/sounds/327023&nbsp; https://freesound.org/people/Cinetony/sounds/566112/ https://freesound.org/people/handygaber/sounds/499772/ https://freesound.org/people/nictfw/sounds/561813/ https://freesound.org/people/Grigore/sounds/127113/ https://freesound.org/people/Clearwavsound/sounds/523439/ https://freesound.org/people/PlusMinusZero/sounds/106819/ https://freesound.org/people/Worldmaxter/sounds/471133/ https://freesound.org/people/DSOADigital/sounds/362253/ https://freesound.org/people/o_ciz/sounds/475496/ https://freesound.org/people/ddohler/sounds/34216/ https://freesound.org/people/kevp888/sounds/494992/ https://freesound.org/people/JonathanTremblay/sounds/253397/ https://freesound.org/people/sinatra314/sounds/209475/ https://freesound.org/people/Fugeni/sounds/416285/ https://freesound.org/people/Yacob_l/sounds/317410/ https://freesound.org/people/tim.kahn/sounds/106099/ https://freesound.org/people/martinimeniscus/sounds/199381/ https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/Cybernetic-Rapture Tue, 25 Jan 2022 18:25:16 +0000 Audio Description in the Making https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/Cybernetic-Rapture Artist Statment Part comic, part sonic, we invite you to star in our speculative world that dances between the physical and virtual. As our first collaboration, Cybernetic Rapture is a joint imagining of getting lost in cyberspace. We draw inspiration from the ambient song "Toi" by Visible Cloaks, Yoshio Ojima &amp; Satsuki Shibano and infuse our own comedic take on a slightly dystopian adventure. We pair the image and the audio asynchronously so that readers may look, listen or read at their own pace. - Jessie Stainton &amp; Caitlin Chan Cybernetic Rapture <img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8a98317bfd93207535bd86137dac16de5b79d86db15b20d9f145e895368009ac/Scene-1.png" data-mid="131400195" border="0" alt="A church against a hazy sky." data-caption="A church against a hazy sky." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8a98317bfd93207535bd86137dac16de5b79d86db15b20d9f145e895368009ac/Scene-1.png" /> <img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/978f5a8c65cfc4939d69a36896e360d0f0524aedb7baaceb0dcc506b2072bb86/Scene-2.jpg" data-mid="131400196" border="0" alt="Houses along a cobblestone street." data-caption="Houses along a cobblestone street." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/978f5a8c65cfc4939d69a36896e360d0f0524aedb7baaceb0dcc506b2072bb86/Scene-2.jpg" /> <img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4e52b10a4e0e247ae4bb0afeff8fb562c015f440e0723e376f8791751872240a/Scene-3.jpg" data-mid="131400197" border="0" alt="A hand prodding a bubble." data-caption="A hand prodding a bubble." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4e52b10a4e0e247ae4bb0afeff8fb562c015f440e0723e376f8791751872240a/Scene-3.jpg" /> <img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/14beb9c37d05c12af095a31e1b5f6114be2b3fee61de3e3c4c8c6c144d75c4fa/Scene-4.jpg" data-mid="131400198" border="0" alt="The church once more against a darker sky." data-caption="The church once more against a darker sky." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/14beb9c37d05c12af095a31e1b5f6114be2b3fee61de3e3c4c8c6c144d75c4fa/Scene-4.jpg" /> <img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/de06f8f5b8745dddc610dcc6de8ab7a67fc83178b85262231f0e2e223cc76e22/Scene-5.jpg" data-mid="131400199" border="0" alt="The background becomes pixelated." data-caption="The background becomes pixelated." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/de06f8f5b8745dddc610dcc6de8ab7a67fc83178b85262231f0e2e223cc76e22/Scene-5.jpg" /> <img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb8b2ab9ca3cbcd3fb35a5fae15feaf1eee4bc8d9afe9b6987d7a845a6bfaf60/Scene-6.jpg" data-mid="131400200" border="0" alt="The hand prods the bubble deeper." data-caption="The hand prods the bubble deeper." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb8b2ab9ca3cbcd3fb35a5fae15feaf1eee4bc8d9afe9b6987d7a845a6bfaf60/Scene-6.jpg" /> <img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e4b02eb2e1f876f13214633b99aad7a01f449858ca0892bdb54f382d6cd43d8d/Scene-7.jpg" data-mid="131400201" border="0" alt="Both the background and the church are overtaken by pixels." data-caption="Both the background and the church are overtaken by pixels." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e4b02eb2e1f876f13214633b99aad7a01f449858ca0892bdb54f382d6cd43d8d/Scene-7.jpg" /> <img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e3d9e03430d53f449f2f40b3f3dd5e8dd7b2fe981d90aeab727322ce00b9aea2/Scene-8.jpg" data-mid="131400202" border="0" alt="A closeup of the bubble." data-caption="A closeup of the bubble." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e3d9e03430d53f449f2f40b3f3dd5e8dd7b2fe981d90aeab727322ce00b9aea2/Scene-8.jpg" /> <img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/983be159da782ca97d4024707d09e9f5d7b94bc33d55b0b1da56f13f12e04cdc/Scene-9.jpg" data-mid="131400203" border="0" alt="Large black shapes are corrupting the view of the church." data-caption="Large black shapes are corrupting the view of the church." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/983be159da782ca97d4024707d09e9f5d7b94bc33d55b0b1da56f13f12e04cdc/Scene-9.jpg" /> <img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b0e1c28171e78a6f6be7d0bc27a0e77eb8c114e9d11cd84143874ba28fc9f2eb/Scene-10.jpg" data-mid="131400204" border="0" alt="A grey web emerges from the centre." data-caption="A grey web emerges from the centre." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b0e1c28171e78a6f6be7d0bc27a0e77eb8c114e9d11cd84143874ba28fc9f2eb/Scene-10.jpg" /> <img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/382c2dd35a8f1de3fcb87bff901ecc0b39497b8dbb7f23bced2c59b631452324/Scene-11.jpg" data-mid="131400205" border="0" alt="Bubbles are slowly covering a building." data-caption="Bubbles are slowly covering a building." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/382c2dd35a8f1de3fcb87bff901ecc0b39497b8dbb7f23bced2c59b631452324/Scene-11.jpg" /> <img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9ff178c63bae799ecb8275921c6975d536cfb7fc94b6103aef11420f0acbdb49/Scene-12.jpg" data-mid="131400207" border="0" alt="A downhill view of the narrow alley." data-caption="A downhill view of the narrow alley." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9ff178c63bae799ecb8275921c6975d536cfb7fc94b6103aef11420f0acbdb49/Scene-12.jpg" /> <img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b1a5a5c2e7287b9ebe1215cb3927be3ab6149c34976127d31d99de850ddaad79/Scene-13.jpg" data-mid="131400208" border="0" alt="A dark opening at the end of the alley." data-caption="A dark opening at the end of the alley." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b1a5a5c2e7287b9ebe1215cb3927be3ab6149c34976127d31d99de850ddaad79/Scene-13.jpg" /> <img width="4096" height="4096" width_o="4096" height_o="4096" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/595d4026a36f0d6e07cf908989c455017d33b3bccf0faacaeb22601ec57e5501/Scene-14.jpg" data-mid="131400209" border="0" alt="The hand is overtaken by bubbles." data-caption="The hand is overtaken by bubbles." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/595d4026a36f0d6e07cf908989c455017d33b3bccf0faacaeb22601ec57e5501/Scene-14.jpg" /> https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/The-Notice Tue, 25 Jan 2022 18:25:17 +0000 Audio Description in the Making https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/The-Notice Artist Statement The Notice is a video-performance about memory and public art. Using audio description as a starting point, it portrays large-scale, abstract stained-glassed windows created by Marcelle Ferron at Champs-de-Mars subway station in Montreal. In fact, it describes the artwork from the perspective of the windows themselves. This stained glass has been reflecting light onto, and inhabited by, its urban public since 1968. What might windows have to say about themselves to a half-century old amorphous, evolving collective of passersby? - Simone Lucas The Notice Transcript I appear to you now as a hand(s). A pinkish floating hand(s), luminescent, projected onto a wall in an empty room. The hand(s) moves. Fingers minutely inching forward and back, side to side. Expanding. Contracting. I appear to you now a jelly-fish like figure in front of my hand(s). A red-flowing body draped over bare limbs. Inching forward and back, side to side. Expanding. Contracting. Hair hangs down where there might have been a head. My dancing hand(s) is over me and under me. It is the hand of my gut, the hand of my throat. The hand of hunger and longing. Towering above humans and other animals, I deal in light. Many years ago, you forgot to notice. Footsteps go by and by and by and by. I spend my days casting hues, emanating blues, obsequious orange, tangy purple, zany green. Showers of intangible candy. I appear to you now as a toxic flower. A lingering plastic kiss. Translucent sheets envelop the body and head, dangle from the limbs Hold me, my luminescent hand(s), and I will hold all the forgetting.&nbsp; &nbsp; https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/AIM-Logo-Image-Description-as-Poetic-Writing Tue, 25 Jan 2022 18:25:15 +0000 Audio Description in the Making https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/AIM-Logo-Image-Description-as-Poetic-Writing Artist Statement In 2021, Access in the Making (AIM) Lab’s talented designer Roi Saade created AIM Lab’s logo through an ongoing consultation process with the AIM crew. Over the course of six months, we collectively explored our values, imagined what AIM’s personality would be like, what kind of work we want to do at AIM, and who or what we want to work for and with. AIM’s logo (the image on the top/header of the page) emerged from this dialogical process. The image to the right shows Roi’s conceptualization of the logo. The audio-descriptions I offer relate to both, how I interpret the logo and the ideas behind it. - Arseli Dokumaci <img width="4358" height="1103" width_o="4358" height_o="1103" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/af405560a705f3e244837d76dc5cf2557bc530a21035f55771928f9b75ef2193/AIM-logo-cropped.png" data-mid="133587148" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/af405560a705f3e244837d76dc5cf2557bc530a21035f55771928f9b75ef2193/AIM-logo-cropped.png" />ID: AIM logo concept art showing how the spacing between the letters was chosen. AIM LOGO IMAGE DESCRIPTION AS POETIC WRITING&nbsp; Where are the missing letters? Perhaps it was a Blind B. Perhaps it was a C with Crutches. Perhaps it was a D with depression. Perhaps it was an E with epilepsy… The letters of the alphabet are not enough to describe the unalike living beings&nbsp;we are… Then who is missing in&nbsp;the&nbsp;worlds&nbsp;our words make? Who is missing in the rooms we meet,&nbsp;in the stories we tell,&nbsp;in&nbsp;the joys we share? Who or what&nbsp;has&nbsp;been&nbsp;erased?&nbsp; Who or what is being&nbsp;unheard? Who or what&nbsp;is not even known to exist?&nbsp; If life is not something we are given, But a recognition that&nbsp;we owe&nbsp;to&nbsp;one&nbsp;another,&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Then: How can we keep space for those whose needs we may never know? How can we make room for those no room has ever been made? How can we hold space open for those&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; who have been kept out of space? &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; … A fully accessible world will not come to be. If it does, we all&nbsp;will be gone. To search for something that we know we will never find &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Is not a surrender to desperation.&nbsp; It, instead, is&nbsp;the hope that keeps us going.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Aiming and&nbsp;dreaming…&nbsp;&nbsp; Arseli Dokumaci&nbsp; October, 2021&nbsp; https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/Forward-Retreat-Audio-Description Tue, 25 Jan 2022 21:13:21 +0000 Audio Description in the Making https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/Forward-Retreat-Audio-Description Artist Statment How is it possible that a painting can sit so still, yet demonstrate so much noise and movement? Artists Nicholas Goberdhan and Piper Curtis weave together linguistic and sonic poetry to transport listeners into the oil-paint world of Mark Tansey’s Forward Retreat. Goberdhan’s cadence and tone set the pace while Curtis’ lush soundscape fully engulfs listeners within the story of the piece as it unfolds. - Piper Curtis &amp; Nicholas Goberdhan <img width="1342" height="1080" width_o="1342" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ef0352a228866785bb5d6c4c4af053f1d6b429e29b9572c0cdfdd131b18d7799/tansey_forward_retreat-ConvertImage.png" data-mid="131419539" border="0" data-scale="67" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ef0352a228866785bb5d6c4c4af053f1d6b429e29b9572c0cdfdd131b18d7799/tansey_forward_retreat-ConvertImage.png" /> ID: A black-and-white photo of the painting Forward Retreat by Mark Tansey. "Forward Retreat" - Audio Description https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/The-Left-Hand-Guides Tue, 25 Jan 2022 21:31:54 +0000 Audio Description in the Making https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/The-Left-Hand-Guides Artist StatementInspired by the possibilities of queer language futures, 1970s science fiction aesthetics, and the recent works of artist collective the New Red Order, the artists of The Left Hand Guides, Prakash Krishnan and Sabrina Ward-Kimola, engage in a multi-modal interpretation of the themes and visual representations of Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. First drawing from the cover art of various 1970s editions of the work, they ask: what does this cover sound like? How can the story be told? How can these sounds and images feel?&nbsp; - Sabrina Ward-Kimola &amp; Prakash Krishnan Video Image Description&nbsp; An illustrated portrait of the sky on another planet in another galaxy. The view is from a mountaintop, overlooking the peaks of other protruding rock formations shrouded in mist. Stars glitter in the sky and three moons of varying sized occupy the view. One huge and mostly in a shadow. Another small moon in front of it. And to the left, a red moon, glowing. The image appears in black and white at the beginning of the narration and slowly gains colour by the end. &nbsp; The Left Hand Guides https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/Binding-chests-Mending-Hearts Tue, 25 Jan 2022 22:02:34 +0000 Audio Description in the Making https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/Binding-chests-Mending-Hearts Artist StatementBinding chests, Mending hearts is 2 min experimental short film that explores the entanglements between the sensory experience of&nbsp;wearing a chest binder, the materiality of this object, and the intimate and emotional experiences&nbsp;that intersect with it.&nbsp;The&nbsp;voice-over was&nbsp;first written&nbsp;as a&nbsp;longer&nbsp;creative&nbsp;and multi-sensory audio&nbsp;description of the binder,&nbsp;subsequently shorten to function as voice-over. The images&nbsp;were obtained by experimenting with&nbsp;imprints of various stretchy fabrics on celluloid film and&nbsp;through rotoscope&nbsp;animation.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; - Raphaëlle Bessette-Viens Video Image Description&nbsp;An experimental video made from recycled celluloid film moves quickly but staggers slightly, inching forward frame by frame. The vibrating images display abstract shapes that appear in muted tones of orange, brows, yellow, taupe and green. Animations of hands traced in white appear at different scales. A right hand forms a fist - ASL for hold - followed by pairs of hands that interlock and come apart.&nbsp; Binding chests, Mending hearts Transcript An undergarment to control and hold, hold tightly hold that body. Restrictive and uneasy, a paradoxical gesture&nbsp; shaping, modelling, kneading circling back to the material conditions of the feminine tight, tense, cramped, constricted, contracted, narrow.&nbsp; Pick it up and stretch it out now hold it up to your face. It is nimble in your hands and soft on your cheeks. Its surface is sleek, silky synthetic fabric derived from petrochemicals. Face buried in its pleats, you breathe in deeply. Clean laundry and the lingering of perfume from a few weeks ago. When they stopped holding me, when I wanted to feel held and it held me. I remember how before sweat had gathered between our surfaces in tiny pools in crooks and folds but now try to forget. The ghost of a hand pressed in the middle of my back Kept in the layers of fabric and flesh&nbsp; is all that remains. And like the plastic fabric that breaks down into thousands of microparticles washed out, flushed back up,&nbsp; in my shower Our enmeshments are countless. While its hold shortens my breath I'm reminded of its presence. Attuned to my body as matter, volume and fleshiness and I think of the possibility that I will to be able to hold them in the ways they need to be held. https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/Artist-Info Tue, 25 Jan 2022 18:25:18 +0000 Audio Description in the Making https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/Artist-Info Artist Bios Raphaëlle Bessette-Viens <img width="620" height="825" width_o="620" height_o="825" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8c9f1ff3ad65a9a88c60a7d1351b89bb92563a5bb7579bd8de54d136944f7d12/raph.jpg" data-mid="133608628" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/620/i/8c9f1ff3ad65a9a88c60a7d1351b89bb92563a5bb7579bd8de54d136944f7d12/raph.jpg" /> A small startled black dog and wide-smiled Raphaelle look forward. It is hard to take a picture with a pet, and the blurriness of the picture testifies of this comic moment. Raphaelle is a non-binary white person in their early 30’s with short brown hair and round eyeglasses that sit slightly slanted on their nose. They wear a dark blue sweater and the collar of red shirt peaks from underneath. In the background a black curtain is drawn. This picture was taken where they were born, on unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe territory. They currently live, work, study and birdwatch on unceded Kanien’kehà:ka territory in Tiohtiá:ke (Montreal). Diego Bravo <img width="533" height="800" width_o="533" height_o="800" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4394cbe9e37fa34e320df6df2e1213a9ad388c0fa9adcc13f7c8e26c1023f897/media0.JPG" data-mid="133606965" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/533/i/4394cbe9e37fa34e320df6df2e1213a9ad388c0fa9adcc13f7c8e26c1023f897/media0.JPG" /> Diego is an Indigenous Mexican and Cuban brown-skinned man, wearing a beige camera vest, holding a camera and wearing a mask, sunglasses and a blue beanie while photographing a street blockade protesting tax reform in Cali, Colombia. He is a photographer, journalist, filmmaker, and former professional baseball player. He is currently in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal where he finds pleasure in running in rain, shine or snow.&nbsp; His favourite 3 colours are red, blue and black.&nbsp; Caitlin Chan <img width="1080" height="1080" width_o="1080" height_o="1080" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b74257de15ed4b27757a5d274c1416518d3160839acf21561f1c9354102ea3db/Caitlin-Bio-Photo.png" data-mid="133607141" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b74257de15ed4b27757a5d274c1416518d3160839acf21561f1c9354102ea3db/Caitlin-Bio-Photo.png" /> Caitlin sits dramatically on a sage green chair with her legs crossed over on brown luggage, trying her best to impress Tyra Banks with an intimidating smile. She is wearing a black cloche, a multicoloured tweed shift dress and long black socks, doing her best impression of a 60s beatnik doing daytime flapper cosplay. She has tanned skin, brown eyes and a straight(ish) bob. She is posing against a white wall with a floor length mirror, dead hanging ivy and street art cluttered in the background.&nbsp;Caitlin is a master’s student in the Department of Communications at Concordia University. She is studying listening habits as it pertains to cycling. She identifies herself as a settler of Chinese descent who was born on Musqueam Territory (Vancouver) and is currently living on Kanien’kehà:ka territory in Tiohtiá:ke (Montreal). Piper Curtis <img width="296" height="368" width_o="296" height_o="368" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2d82b41b99d4446c2c04242b852631153f80b63e2182e2f5f5bc66caf4f01cd5/piper.jpg" data-mid="133608071" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/296/i/2d82b41b99d4446c2c04242b852631153f80b63e2182e2f5f5bc66caf4f01cd5/piper.jpg" /> A colour photograph of Piper Curtis, a sound tech and masters student with white skin and a wavy blonde mullet. They are standing on the sidewalk with a summery street behind them, smiling with a phone held to one ear and a bright pink Hello Kitty skateboard in the other hand. The brandname “Girl,” originally featured on the board, is photoshopped out in an assertion of Piper’s nonbinary identity. They are wearing pink tinted shades, pink shorts, and a baggy black t-shirt from one of their favourite wrestlers, Hikaru Shida. Arseli Dokumaci <img width="1200" height="1600" width_o="1200" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/885872e3a3c5e8966aec7a332879d4c67891caad0cd61542602c8749035c565a/Arseli-photo.JPG" data-mid="133606644" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/885872e3a3c5e8966aec7a332879d4c67891caad0cd61542602c8749035c565a/Arseli-photo.JPG" /> I am a settler, born and raised in Turkey and immigrated to Canada some time ago. I live on the unceded lands of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation as an uninvited guest. The Kanien’kehá:ka Nation are the custodians of the lands and waters which give us life and sustain the livelihood of so many beings. I love growing vegetables and sharing the joy with others. In the photo, I am covering my face with a red tomato from my garden which is, believe it or not, as big as my head! My short curly black hair emerges behind the tomato, giving it personhood. I am olive-skinned but, in this image, I am sunburned due to many hours spent in the garden. &nbsp;&nbsp; Nicholas Goberdhan <img width="426" height="714" width_o="426" height_o="714" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0aa6b2142b5e8d04b51d8ef2fb4b191b6ccc370042e0ff845c107865bfb169b1/nicholas.png" data-mid="133608070" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/426/i/0aa6b2142b5e8d04b51d8ef2fb4b191b6ccc370042e0ff845c107865bfb169b1/nicholas.png" /> Here is Nicholas Goberdhan, a brown-skinned Indo-Caribbean male, PhD Student and creative. He is seen wearing a plain black bandana wrapped around his head, a black hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, and a paisley-print black and white bandana lying over the top. Notably, Nicholas has a silver-hooped nose ring on the left nostril, and a large smile accompanied with silver teeth on his upper canines and the bottom row of his teeth. In the background, there is a calendar and cupboard as Nicholas is walking towards the kitchen, another factor of the large smile.&nbsp; Prakash Krishnan <img width="2297" height="2537" width_o="2297" height_o="2537" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6467d03b3c95222e3bc038dd4fc27d80d12b16c3f88996998a8e1cc6503dc114/IMG_6559.jpg" data-mid="133608386" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6467d03b3c95222e3bc038dd4fc27d80d12b16c3f88996998a8e1cc6503dc114/IMG_6559.jpg" /> This is a polaroid taken of me, Prakash Krishnan taken at a profile view of the left side of my face. I am 29 in this photo with brown skin and long black hair cascading over my right shoulder. I’m grinning widely, flashing a set of white teeth, breaking up the monotonous black of my large beard and moustache. My eyes are nearly closed which happens when I smile and I’m wearing large glasses with a black metal frame and a blue, hexagonal-patterned shirt. I’m looking at my friend who is just out of the frame with only the orange sleeve her arm visible in the left corner. I am a settler-of-colour, the first child of Tamil immigrants who arrived from Malaysia. I was born and raised within Dish With One Spoon Territory (Treaty 13), the traditional homelands of the Anishinaabe, Misissaugas, and Haudenosaunee First Nations. I now live and work on the unceded territories of the Kanienkaha:ka in Tio,tia:ke (Mooniyang in Anishinaabemowin).&nbsp; Simone Lucas <img width="335" height="335" width_o="335" height_o="335" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/aef5cd9a4d31c69d58cc8e822e991b148d16c4fe5ea6a4ec60cae0ebddebbca5/simone.jpg" data-mid="133609652" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/335/i/aef5cd9a4d31c69d58cc8e822e991b148d16c4fe5ea6a4ec60cae0ebddebbca5/simone.jpg" /> Simone Lucas (she/they) is an interdisciplinary video artist, educator, scholar, and community activist of Jewish Ashkenazi descent based in Tio’tia:ke (aka Montreal), Canada. In this black and white photo , Simone leans against a brick wall. On her right ear dangles a hexagonal silver earing. Wavy dark brown hair sweeps across their left side, onto the shoulder and black cotton pullover. She looks directly at the camera, squinting her eyes because of the sun, which shines in from the right side. Salima Punjani <img width="1949" height="2341" width_o="1949" height_o="2341" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/80169ab56f701f37a6fc17b4aa9c5b35750fa66419b5115f120c6fde263a9828/spunjani-hic-portrait.jpg" data-mid="133607001" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/80169ab56f701f37a6fc17b4aa9c5b35750fa66419b5115f120c6fde263a9828/spunjani-hic-portrait.jpg" /> Salima is an invisibly Disabled person currently located on unceded Indigenous lands in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. She is a brown-skinned woman with thick curly hair sitting on a pile of thin mattresses and clutching a pillow in her lap in a sound studio that smells like bergamot, eucalyptus and cedar in Budapest, Hungary. The photograph was taken during an artist residency program at the Spatial Sound Institute where she developed a piece about collective rest using multiple senses called The Cost of Entry is a Heartbeat.&nbsp; Jessie Stainton <img width="2320" height="3088" width_o="2320" height_o="3088" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/49e07d1fc19fd6e426d3f4adfd44477fba129f726c987d23ac5e2848f19e8b07/JessieBio.HEIC.jpg" data-mid="133607250" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/49e07d1fc19fd6e426d3f4adfd44477fba129f726c987d23ac5e2848f19e8b07/JessieBio.HEIC.jpg" /> A halo-esque light on the ceiling engulfs Jessie in blue as she looks down at her phone to take a selfie. She is a white settler currently living on Kanien’kehà:ka territory in Tiohtiá:ke (Montreal). In the image, her red curly falls around her staple black turtleneck. Sabrina Ward-Kimola <img width="514" height="864" width_o="514" height_o="864" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1498c5be590d2e8b883e8d5cd1f1ff32cbbf7f5174a58f3a9fc83f212c9062d7/sabrina.jpg" data-mid="133608517" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/514/i/1498c5be590d2e8b883e8d5cd1f1ff32cbbf7f5174a58f3a9fc83f212c9062d7/sabrina.jpg" /> This photo of me, a 27-year-old white woman with wavy brown hair tied up in a bun, is taken from an upward angle with my left hand while my right hand carries two recently purchased, small plants – one mint and one rosemary -- which are visible on the bottom left side of the image. To me this selfie feels like spring, which as a season only becomes official once outdoor market shelves are blooming with racks of seedlings. The meditative practice of gardening, particularly when seedlings are purchased from massively-produced supply chains, is also one imbricated in systems of capitalist and colonial domination. As a child of generations of both settler and Métis ancestors, I strive to remain grateful, aware and diligent of my occupation on the stolen land of the places I have lived. Over time, these territories include that of the: Nuu-Chah-Nulth, Lkwungen, Cowichan, Anishnabeg, Haudenosaunee, and Kanien’kehá:ka nations. &nbsp; Return to Gallery https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/About Thu, 17 Feb 2022 15:41:28 +0000 Audio Description in the Making https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/About About this Exhibition Audio Description (AD) is usually defined as a way to make TV, films, theater, and other art and media content accessible to blind and low vision audiences. In this standardized approach, AD is often reduced to an add-on that gets created only after artworks are finished. AD and the artwork, in other words, remain distinct. Hosted by the AIM Lab, artistic mentors to the exhibition,&nbsp;Cheryl Green and Thomas Reid, led a 3-part online workshop (September 2021) that challenged this separation. Instead of keeping AD apart from the artwork, they asked: why not consider AD as an art form in and of itself? Beginning from a place that centres the experiences of those who are Blind and recognizes the art in audio description, the workshop invited participants to reflect critically both on visual information and to view it as more than mere access. It encouraged creativity not only through describing an image or object but recognizing how description can generate new art. Participants began with a catalyst piece of art of media piece – audio described it, and then generated a whole new work using the audio description as the foundation. Instead of producing neutral or objective descriptions, participants were invited to experiment with approaches that highlighted the physical body, its situatedness, rich sensory experiences, and storytelling. The resulting series of works engage with AD in innovative and creative ways, exploring sound, text, movement, and their mixtures to build entire worlds. From an audio-logo to a binder that comes to life to sci-fi mediation to a lusty afternoon brewing mead to a video game adventure to artistic critiques of colonial pasts to glittering light that turn windowpanes into jellyfish, the collection of pieces in this online exhibit engages with the creative potentials of access. In this recording from the workshop, Thomas and Cheryl introduce Audio Description. They give examples of what AD can sound, read and feel like, and give a few tips on how to make engaging, lively and conscious audio descriptions. You can watch the video below. Click here to download the transcript. Thomas Reid <img width="2048" height="2576" width_o="2048" height_o="2576" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9e1f1afa09c7a972acb27125df3eeed854d33894723b01efca836524354236a0/Thomas---Headshot.jpg" data-mid="133829718" border="0" data-scale="62" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9e1f1afa09c7a972acb27125df3eeed854d33894723b01efca836524354236a0/Thomas---Headshot.jpg" /> Thomas Reid is the host and producer of Reid My Mind Radio. A podcast featuring compelling people impacted by all degrees of blindness and disability. Occasionally, he shares stories from his own experience as a man adjusting to becoming Blind as an adult. Through his Flipping the Script on Audio Description series, Reid continues to explore the art by going beyond surface level topics and examining its implications on the community. Whether in his role as an Audio producer, Voice Over Artist, Audio Description Narrator &amp; Advocate Thomas continues to use his voice to change perspectives around blindness and disability. ID: A brown skin Black man with a clean-shaven bald head smiles into the camera. He has a goatee and is wearing dark shades and a gray button up shirt. Cheryl Green <img width="3094" height="2258" width_o="3094" height_o="2258" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d5547ba24094ad2600612883fd18665c203f5c67d52cfdad013ce52090a74f7e/CherylWithHorses.JPG" data-mid="135013806" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d5547ba24094ad2600612883fd18665c203f5c67d52cfdad013ce52090a74f7e/CherylWithHorses.JPG" /> Cheryl Green, Cheryl Green, MFA, MS is a multi-media digital artist, captioner, audio describer, a 2017 AIR New Voices Scholar, 2020 DOC NYC Documentary New Leader, and Digital Operations Lead and a Member-Owner at New Day Films. She brings her lived experience with multiple invisible disabilities to creating media that explores politically- and culturally-engaged stories from cross-disability communities. Cheryl captions and audio describes films for Kinetic Light, Superfest International Disability Film Festival, and Cinema Touching Disability, and leads workshops for artists and museums on arts accessibility. Her audio and written blog, transcribed podcast, Pigeonhole, and documentary films are at WhoAmIToStopIt.com. She lives in the ancestral homeland and current homeland of the Multnomah, Clackamas, Kathlamet, and many other tribes and bands in Portland, Oregon. ID:&nbsp;A mural of a line of enormous running horses in black and white on a red wall, manes blowing in the wind. Cheryl, a white woman with olive skin and long, curly brown hair, stands with arms folded in front of her, forearms chiseled from too many years typing, staring off in the direction the horses are headed. She has a solemn crow tattooed on one arm and wears a black t-shirt with white text, “No More Spoons” and a row of knives and daggers. https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/Homepage Tue, 25 Jan 2022 18:25:18 +0000 Audio Description in the Making https://audiodescription.accessinthemaking.ca/Homepage Audio Description in the Making Exhibition What if Audio Description was thought of&nbsp;as an artistic practice instead of an add-on?