“Sound Letters From San Francisco” is the title of the incomplete work made in collaboration with The LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired - San Francisco and two artist-in-residence; Gk Callahan (USA) and Siobhán Clancy (Ireland), artists working with people with vision impairments.

The LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired SF- held a series of workshops for the Wellness and Enrichment program with Gk Callahan and Siobhán Clancy, artist-in-residence with the National Council for the Blind of Ireland. The workshops included an introduction to sound art and creative recording methods, an interactive presentation of previous projects Siobhán Clancy conducted in Ireland, open discussion/feedback on the “Sound Letters from San Francisco,” project with the Lighthouse participants. The workshop also included interactive development/ participation component in the work.

The goal of GK Callahan (USA) and Siobhán Clancy (IRE) in collaboration with participants in the Wellness and Enrichment program at The Lighthouse for Blind and Visually Impaired-SF is to create a participatory artwork piece.  An element of this work was to be housed in the Please Touch Community Garden in San Francisco which was to include an interactive sound installation and further experiential components that would have had a global reach through an online platform and the international postal system.

The Aim to engage participants at The Lighthouse and the public in a creative, international exchange that addresses the experience of vision impairment in contemporary society; challenging misconceptions and presenting the reality as described through the voices of the blindness community.

Gk Callahan and Siobhán Clancy displayed information and work in progress for the “Sound Letters from San Francisco” project in a prominent position in the Lighthouse lobby (on the coffee bar) for one month. They placed a mailbox with an audio recorder on the lobby counter.  They invited all of the Lighthouse community to participant to use this recorder to audio record what they feel are ‘Common Misconceptions’ regarding the vision impaired. There were instructions provided to make the recording in large print and in braille.  There were also be information about how this will contribute to ‘Sound Letters from San Francisco’ project. 

Listen to us discuss the project.