By Danielle Kutchel
A new gallery exhibition at Bunjil Place is promising to be the most accessible yet, thanks to an Auslan video label pilot.
Auslan (Australian Sign Language) video labels have been loaded onto two iPads, which are available by request at the Bunjil Place Gallery front desk to accompany members of the Auslan community as they visit the David Griggs: Between Nature and Sin exhibition.
The pilot is aimed at deaf or hard of hearing people who use Auslan, parents and children of deaf people, Auslan students and interpreters.
Arts access/inclusion officer at Bunjil Place, Jessica Moody, said while Auslan tours are not new within the gallery sector, they often involve a tour guide who is well versed in the exhibition and who can take a tour group around it. The downfalls of this approach include the tours being bound to one day or time, and an inability to stop at every piece in the exhibition.
Ms Moody was keen to encourage the agency of individual visitors, and with Auslan video labels, visitors can visit at any time during opening hours and navigate the gallery.
There are twelve videos loaded onto each iPad which correspond with the labels inside the gallery. Users can select the thumbnail corresponding to the title of the artwork they are looking at to view the Auslan video. Each video features a deaf artist who has translated the English artwork labels into Auslan.
The videos are captioned in English and can be watched in any order.
“At Bunjil Place, we welcome all. The Auslan labels remove the barrier of written or spoken language, transforming it into the accessible language of Auslan,” Ms Moody said.
Sarah Davies, who was born profoundly deaf, said she found the iPad and Auslan labels in the gallery easy to use.
“Accessibility is important to me as this gives me more choice and control in attending exhibitions, theatre, movies and general events of my interest to enjoy equally as much as everyone else,” she said.
“As I love and enjoy art exhibitions, I was very excited when this exhibition launched with accessibility to Auslan which is my primary language and I am able to fully absorb the same information shared. I think the iPad initiative is fantastic and I would love to see more of this roll out to many more exhibitions.”
The labels are currently being piloted only for the David Grigg’s exhibition and Ms Moody said they aimed to repeat the initiative in future exhibitions.
