Gentle notes, from an electric piano, open the video. Their soft and steady rhythms create a serene and enchanting atmosphere.
In an exhibition gallery lined with paintings against deep terracotta walls and warm wooden floors, Melissa sits on a stretch of wooden benches in the middle, with a tranquil smile on her face. She is facing the direction of a large painting, which stretches across almost the entire wall. There’s something on her lap, which is out of frame, that she is using her hands to feel. As the camera pans around Melissa, her voiceover plays: “My name is Melissa Yeo. I am total blind. I love to visit museums because I like the story and history behind each art exhibit. I am now here at National Gallery Singapore to experience their new tactile project titled “HOLD Collection.”
Melissa is wearing a pastel floral cheongsam top with a forest green cardigan draped over her shoulders, and light denim jeans. The flowers on her cheongsam are purple, red and pink, and the cheongsam has pastel pink pankou knots. The bright florals stand out against the muted terracotta walls.
A cheerful and optimistic piano melody plays in the background. This same piece of music is used for every transition for the rest of the video.
A panning shot of the exterior of National Gallery Singapore along St Andrew’s Road. The grand building has tall columns and large windows. The facade is adorned with banners promoting art exhibitions, and the entrance is marked by large metallic lettering spelling out "National Gallery Singapore” in all caps. Several palm trees line the front of the building.
Inside the halls of the museum, Alicia walks beside Melissa, who is using a white cane to navigate.
Alicia says: “Hey Melissa, welcome back to the Gallery! We’re at the Supreme Court wing now. Shall we head down the hallway?”
At your 12 and 1 o’clock, we have two friends who are going to introduce themselves to you.”
Rico stretches out his hand with a warm smile, and greets: “Hi Melissa!”
Melissa responds: “Hello!”
Rico continues: “I’m Rico Chan, the founder and CEO of Beyond Vision International, based in Hong Kong.”
Warmly, Melissa says: “Hi, nice to meet you, Rico,” to which Rico responds: “You too!”
Melissa turns towards the man beside Rico, stretching out her hand as she asks: “And you are?”
Hisyam shakes her hand and introduces himself: “I’m Hisyam Nassir. I’m a manager at the Learning and Outreach team at National Gallery Singapore.”
Melissa says: “Nice to meet you. So Alicia, what about your role in the Gallery?”
Alicia responds: “I’m Alicia Teng. I’m the Deputy Director of the Community and Access team here at National Gallery Singapore. So today we’re here because we’re exploring a new tactile resource that we’re developing here at the Gallery. So, if everyone’s okay, let’s go!”
Melissa chimes in affirmation: “Let’s go!” and everyone chuckles. The four of them walk away, backs facing the camera.
Alicia is wearing a maroon batwing top and a knee-length pastel pink skirt with geometric patterns. Rico is wearing a baggy, very light baby blue collared button-up top and tapered slim fit grey pants. Hisyam is fully decked out in maroon, with a long sleeved button-up and long straight-cut pants. He also has a beige button-up shirt styled as a lightweight jacket. Their brightly coloured clothes contrast against the walls, grand columns and arches, which are all white, as well as the marble floor, which has a black-and-white checkered pattern.
The group is now in a space in the Gallery called the Glass Room. From left to right, Melissa, Alicia, Hisyam and Rico are seated around a low coffee table.
Alicia introduces the space: “We’re now actually seated in the Glass Room, around a coffee table in front of us. Natural light is coming in from the glass walls all around us. Above us, there are aluminium panels that are designed with patterns inspired by the attap leaves of old attap houses.”
Melissa responds: “Thanks Alicia for inviting me to experience these tactile resources. So Hisyam, could you share with me a little bit more about this project?”
Hisyam shares, while images of hands interacting with various tactile adaptations of artwork with the gallery are shown: “Sure, Melissa. So the resources you’ll be engaging with are actually part of the Gallery’s Hands-on Learning and Development Collection, also known as HOLD Collection for short. It features tactile and interactive adaptations of Singapore and Southeast Asian artworks from the Gallery’s collection. We wanted to develop tactile resources that can be accessed by students and visitors with access requirements, such as the blind and vision-impaired, or VI for short, as well as the neurodivergent communities. Maybe Alicia, you’d like to add on?”
Alicia answers: “Sure. As a visual arts institution, we know our visitors may face different barriers when they visit the Gallery.”
Excitedly, she adds: “The HOLD Collection offers an engaging experience with multisensory and hands-on ways to enjoy art. This is where our partner, Beyond Vision International comes in. Rico, would you like to tell us a little bit more about the tactile resource?”
Rico adds: “Sure. We worked with the Gallery to develop two artworks from their collection into tactile resources. The first is Boschbrand, an 1849 oil painting by Raden Saleh, adapted into a Tactile-Audio Interaction System, TAIS. And second, is Trishaw Rider, a 1961 oil painting by Lai Foong Moi, into a Tactile Guide Booklet.”
As Rico shares, a short clip that pans across each of the paintings plays. The first painting, Boschbrand, vividly portrays a dramatic scene where wild animals, including tigers, oxen (also known as bantengs), a leopard and black panther, are fleeing in panic from an encroaching forest fire towards the edge of a cliff. Some of them are hanging onto the cliff edge for their dear life. The work is of a monumental scale, taking up almost the whole wall. Its size and the use of light and shadow add to the dramatic nature of the scene.
The second painting, Trishaw Rider, captures a moment of rest in the life of a trishaw rider. The painting depicts the rider seated, playing a nose flute, with what is possibly a cigarette sticking out of his mouth. This leisurely scene is set against a background of dark greens, browns and dull red. These dark colours evoke an atmosphere of wearisome labour.
With enthusiasm, Rico suggests: “Melissa, do you want to try it out?”
Melissa responds: “Okay,” and Alicia responds by reaching over to the little coffee table they're seated around, picking up the plastic folder on it.
Alicia places the folder on Melissa’s lap, and Melissa opens it up.
Alicia shares: “So Melissa, I’m handing you the tactile booklet. It is A4-sized. And on the first page, we have the Tactile Colour System invented by Beyond Vision International. The booklet has both Braille and written English text.”
As Melissa feels the different elements on the page, we get a glimpse of the Tactile Colour System in the Tactile Guide Booklet.
Rico explains: “Different colours correspond to different textures. If you flip to the next page, what can you feel?”
Melissa flips to the next page, and slowly uses her fingers to trace the outline of the tactile sketch, and the patterns denoting colours within it. With an air of curiosity, she explains to Rico the process she’s going through, as he smiles enthusiastically at her. Melissa says: “I can feel a few objects, like a stick and something like a triangle. And I think there are different shapes? There are circles, dots. I think based on your tactile system, is this red?” Melissa is shown feeling the sketch of the umbrella attached to the trishaw.
“Yes!” Alicia responds. As top down shots of the individual pages for the Trishaw Rider artwork in the Tactile Guide Booklet are shown, with a hand gently navigating the tactile sketches, Alicia explains: “The artwork’s elements, such as the umbrella, trishaw, the rider and the background are separated into individual pages. VI visitors can gradually build a complete mental image of the artwork, as the elements come together into the full composite on the final page.”
The top of the first page has the header Tactile Colour System (TCS). This system incorporates eight different tactile patterns to represent eight different colours. All headers and labels are both in Braille and written English. On the top of the page is a hexagon that demonstrates what it could look and feel like to have various colours, each with their own individual pattern, side by side. The hexagon is made up of smaller shapes, with each shape being a single colour.
On the lower half of the page are the names of the eight different colours covered in the TCS, and their corresponding tactile pattern. The left column shows three cool colours: green is represented by horizontal lines, blue is represented by wavy lines and violet is represented by diagonal lines. The right column shows three warm colours: red is represented by a circle pattern, orange is represented by a diamond pattern, and yellow is represented by a triangle pattern. The middle column shows that grey is represented by a diagonal dotted-line pattern and brown is represented by a criss-cross pattern. Zoomed in shots of the TCS show how the unique tactile pattern of each colour is clearly raised from the page.
An open umbrella stretches across the page, with its large canopy taking up the top one quarter, and the long thin shaft taking up three quarters of the page. Its position allows us to see both the outer and inner structure of the umbrella. The canopy of the umbrella is shaped like the cap of a mushroom. The outer side has a mix of triangle and circle patterns, while its underside has a ribbed inner structure with dark matte shading. The umbrella has a long shaft to prop it up and connect it to the passenger seat of the trishaw.
A trishaw cabin takes up roughly the bottom three quarters of the page. The hood of the trishaw, which has a thin row of triangle patterns, is folded up. Circle patterns make up the inner panel of the trishaw cabin. The backrest of the trishaw has horizontal lines. Above the backrest of the trishaw is a hollow space for ventilation in the cabin, denoted by a smooth horizontal rectangle.
The trishaw rider occupies about two-thirds of the lower half of the painting. He wears a white cotton tank top, dark shorts, and a narrow-brimmed sun hat. He has a relaxed facial expression, with a flute positioned at his nose and what is possibly a cigarette sticking out of his mouth. He has broad shoulders, and sits with his elbows resting gently on the sides of his thighs. His muscular legs are relaxed and bent. His broad, bare feet are propped up on the trishaw frame. Triangles and horizontal lines fill the interior of the trishaw cabin.
The background is mainly made up of slender horizontal lines that fill up around three quarters of the page, while darker, thicker lines fill up the bottom right quarter. There are also triangles, circles and a thick matte rectangle at the top right of the page.
The final tactile graphic combines the graphics from all previous pages to present a complete version of the painting, with the rider seated in the cabin on the passenger seat, and the umbrella shading him, against the background details.
Melissa says: “Oh, this is very interesting. So how did you develop this?”
Rico responds: “Once we developed the prototypes, we engaged in meetings both online and in-person to share with the Gallery team. We also tested the prototypes with VIs in Hong Kong.”
Footages of such meetings, including the testing process, plays.
Alicia adds: “The Gallery team also travelled to Hong Kong to observe the sessions. We were at the BVI office observing how the BVI team actually engaged with the VI participants as they tried out the prototypes.
Back here in Singapore we also ran our own focus group discussions with local VI participants. And you also participated in the test, remember, Melissa?”
Melissa replies: “Yes, I recall. I can’t wait to experience the finalised resources,” and Alicia says: “Shall we make our way there now?”
Melissa and Hisyam answer “Okay!” in unison, with enthusiasm.
The footage begins with an online Zoom meeting showing Alicia with Rico in the BVI office, and Hisyam and Yi Xuan from the Gallery team. Rico and Alicia are holding up a working version of the Tactile Guide Booklet together, as Rico flips through its pages, explaining the content to the Gallery team. Hisyam and Yi Xuan look on thoughtfully.
Shots of Rico’s team guiding VI individuals through experiencing the TAIS in the BVI office follow, including shots of the Gallery team observing the session and attentively filming the process.
We return to the exhibition gallery where Melissa was sitting in at the beginning of this video. Hisyam and Alicia are sitting beside Melissa on a bench, in front of the original Boschbrand artwork.
Hisyam says to Melissa: “Hi Melissa, Hisyam here. We are currently here in UOB Southeast Asia Gallery 2. So in front of me, I have the TAIS, which is an A3 tactile adaptation of the artwork in front of us. Would you like to explore it?” Hisyam gently passes over the TAIS to Melissa.
Melissa responds: “Okay, yes.”, as she takes the TAIS from Hisyam.
A top-down view of the TAIS follows.
Alicia explains: “Similar to the tactile booklet, there are different layers in the TAIS. Each layer has a button that will play an audio description when pressed.”
As she explains, images of the different layers of the tactile adaptation of Boschbrand are shown. On every layer, there is a small button poking out from the images themselves. A finger presses the button, and the recording from the TAIS plays. An enthusiastic male voice says: “In front of us is the Tactile-Audio Interaction System panel for Boschbrand, an enormous oil painting on canvas painted in 1849.”.
A shot of the original Boschbrand oil painting hung up in the Gallery follows.
As Melissa feels the different elements on the TAIS, she checks in with Alicia and Hisyam: “So actually, the painting there are two bantengs, one like this and one like this.” She first feels the first layer with the banteng and the two tigers, then flips to the second layer with the larger banteng.
They both answer: “Yes!”
Melissa continues as she feels her way around the page: “And then there’s a tiger, another tiger, two tigers.”
Alicia asks: “If you combine the layers, are you able to roughly identify where the fire and the animals are in the painting? Could you point them out?”
Melissa gradually responds as she feels across the entire page and tries to piece the different elements together in her head: “If I put like this, I should more or less… there’s smoke… smoke smoke smoke smoke. And then there are birds, there are eagles, and then a banteng right…? And then banteng again, and a tiger. And then there’s another tiger looking forward right…? And then smaller animals and plants.”.
As she shares her mental image, Melissa points upwards towards the original Boschbrand painting, based on where she thinks the various elements are situated. The camera also zooms into the individual elements as they are being pointed out by Melissa.
As she speaks, Hisyam and Alicia say “yup” and “yes”, indicating that her mental image of the painting is accurate.
In the middle is the face of a fierce tiger — it faces us directly with piercing eyes and its jaw opened wide in a roar, with four sharp canines on full display. Its limbs are outstretched: its front paws are fully extended, and its hind legs pushed against the surface behind it, driving it forward.
At the tiger’s four o’ clock is an ox, otherwise known as banteng. Having thoroughly lost its footing, the banteng is plunging headfirst downwards, with its hind legs pointing to the sky. It cranes its neck desperately, looking towards us.
To the right of the banteng, there’s a side view of another tiger that is also plummeting downwards. This tiger's head is tilted upwards, its body forming a curved-hook shape. The tiger's hind legs are braced on the back of the banteng, its forepaws tightly digging into the banteng's side, hopelessly grasping onto the banteng to save itself from falling.
Connecting these three animals is a dotted line with some parts jutting out, resembling the edge of a cliff.
In the centre is a banteng that is larger than the one in the previous frame. It is mere inches away from the edge of the cliff. Its head is flung back, mouth wide open, as if crying out in terror. The banteng’s hooves are extending outwards, frozen mid-run as one knee crumples to the ground. There is a thin, dotted line next to the banteng’s hooves, which marks the edge of the cliff these animals are on.
Underneath the banteng’s tail is the shape of a stag coloured entirely in black. The stag is facing left with its head raised. At the stag’s seven o’clock direction, two smaller animals are also running towards the edge of the cliff. One has a dotted pattern, representing a leopard, while the other is coloured in full black, representing a black panther.
Near the top center of this layer, five small wave patterns represent distant birds flying past. At the upper right corner, there are two bigger birds soaring high up in the air. They are both coloured in black.
In this layer, the outline of the animals and the cliff is dotted, with the focal point being the scene that these animals are fleeing from.
On the upper left are pointy patterns resembling fire, with large clouds of smoke billowing across the sky from the left to right. The smoke is represented by the horizontal lines that run across the length of the painting.
On the right, around the midpoint, lies an extended, distant landscape represented by denser horizontal lines that cover about half the lower area. At the bottom right corner, there are wavy patterns which represent a water body.
In this layer, the outline of the animals is dotted, with the focus being the cliff the animals are running on.
There are some plants growing out from the lower depths of the cliff. Most distinctively is a plant with heart-shaped leaves, and a plant with small leaves. Around the plants, the diagonal criss-cross pattern represents the edge of the cliff, with its rugged, towering rocks.
There are several other cliffside plants on the surface of the cliff. Their leaves are swaying to the right with the wind. In the upper left corner are some trees, including a palm tree, which represents a distant forest. From here, at the palm tree’s five o’clock, stalks of lalang, a type of reed with long, needle-like leaves and white plumes, are present abundantly on the cliff.
In this layer, the separate elements of the tactile adaptation, described in the previous panels, are framed in a single panel.
Boschbrand vividly portrays a dramatic scene where wild animals are fleeing in panic from an encroaching forest fire towards the edge of a cliff. The painting is framed with a regal golden frame.
Shades of grey and black colours are the dominant colours in the background of this painting, creating a gloomy mood. In full colour, it is revealed that the dense horizontal lines in the final layer of the TAIS represent distant forests and mountains behind the cliff, while the wavy patterns represent a calm lake surface. The plant with the heart-shaped leaves also has some white and pink flowers. However, these flowers are not immediately relevant until you look closely as they are partially in shadow, with the lighting of this painting focused on the animals fleeing.
Additionally, the two birds in the upper right corner of the painting are two Brahminy kites — eagles that are commonly found in Southeast Asia which have white heads and chests with brown wings.
Melissa continues to feel the TAIS by herself in the exhibition gallery. Later, she shares her reflections while seated in the Glass Room. Shots of previous scenes of Melissa experiencing TAIS with Alicia, Hisyam and Rico intersperse her sharing.
Melissa shares: “I just experienced the TAIS and the Tactile Guide Booklet. It is just me now, sharing about my reflections.
This is something refreshing for me and new for me, allowing me to be able to see the artwork, not only through sound, but also through touch, to appreciate the artwork much better. I am looking forward to experiencing more artworks under the HOLD Collection because the blind and the VI, they too, would like to be part of the cultural experience.
I hope the Gallery’s effort could inspire others to create similar inclusive experiences for the VI community so we could enjoy arts like the sighted as well.”
The scene ends with a back view of Melissa seated alone in the gallery room, as she was at the beginning of the video, as the camera zooms out on her.
Raden Saleh
Boschbrand (Forest Fire)
1849
Oil on canvas 300 by 396 cm
Collection of National Gallery Singapore
This work has been adopted by the Yong Hon Kong Foundation
Lai Foong Moi
Trishaw Rider
1961
Oil on canvas, 75.3 by 48 cm
Collection of National Gallery Singapore
Presenter: Melissa Yeo
Project Team from National Gallery Singapore Community and Access team: Alicia Teng, Jocelyn Ang, Lam Yi Xuan
Project Team from National Gallery Singapore Learning and Outreach team: Annabelle Tan, Wang Tingting, Jermaine Huang, Hisyam Nassir.
The video closes with the National Gallery Singapore logo. The logo comprises two rectangular blocks in red side by side, with the left one shorter in length but taller in height than the right one. They resemble the two iconic buildings that house the Gallery.