© Ebony Rose Dark & SDN, Photo by Ben Brooks of ‘Through the Senses’ Tour (ABCD Alternative Tours) commissioned by SDN, 2022.

Through the Senses explored smell, touch and hearing as a means to navigate, understand, be excited, and be enraptured by the city. The tour was curated by visually impaired artist Ebony Rose Dark in collaboration with Brighton’s visually impaired community, and was open to anyone identifying as visually impaired and looking to deepen their relationship with the city. Companions were welcome.

We invited people of all experiences and backgrounds to engage with the tour online through our unique sound and video-scape. People broaden their understanding of the visually impaired experience and gained new perspectives of their surroundings as we invited them to discover Brighton afresh.

A group of people who are from the visually impaired community reach out in front of them.
A photo of Ebony Rose Dark leading a tour.
A woman holds onto a mans shoulder.

“Joining the Through the Senses tour of Brighton was a fascinating and mind-opening experience. As a non-visually impaired person I learnt so much about how the city is laid out and designed for different abilities, and how to navigate the spaces without sight. My senses felt heightened as I closed my eyes, all sounds got louder and I felt the rain more. I had to fully trust my guiding partner, she was great at providing on the spot descriptions of where I was walking, or what obstacles may be coming up and in the way. All in all an experience I’d recommend to anyone.”

Laura Participant

Find out more about the project here!

SDN Team:

Curator and Executive Producer: Katie Dale-Everett

Producer: Frances Liveseynn

Project Assistant: Amy Robyn-Lyster

Marketing Co-ordinator: Alice Leverton

Commissioned Collaborators:

Lead Artist: Ebony Rose Dark

Creative Artist Assistant: Orla Connolly