Community exhibition | An Allegory for the Senses
Collaborative artwork with artist Natalie Zervou-Kerruish and artists from Sense TouchBase Pears
On display at Sense Touchbase Pears, 750 Bristol Road Birmingham
Runs until 31 May 2026.
Free. Visit anytime during office opening hours.
How can art be experienced through touch?
Collaborating with artmakers at at the national disability charity Sense – who support people who are deafblind or have other complex needs – we have been exploring this question.
Tactile work from artist Natalie Zervou-Kerruish and Visual Arts Director at Sense Tanya Raabe Webber is now on public display at Sense Touchbase Pears. This work was created through in person workshops with Sense artmakers and the Barber team, which used art to think about disability and identity.
Visit now and see, touch and feel the art for yourself.
Inspiration
The project was inspired by a painting from the Barber collection, Isaac Blessing Jacob by Matthias Stom – which acts as an allegory for the 5 senses.
Central to the painting’s Biblical story is Issac, who is blind. He sits in bed and reaches out to his son Esau to bless him and receive a meal, but Jacob, Isaac’s other son, stands in his place.
Jacob wears goat skin gloves to trick Issac into thinking he has his brothers’ hairy hands. A dog sniffs at the meat on the plate. Rebecca, Issac’s wife, looks directly at the viewer, holding a finger to her lips as if to say, “Shhh”. We are being asked not to reveal their trickery.
The painting captures a tale of deception of identity, centring the sensory experience of Issac. The work represents each of the five senses – sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell – and shows how they can be both reliable and misleading.
What is Sense?
Sense is a charity that supports disabled adults and children with complex needs , bringing people and diverse communities together.
The organisation provides dedicated spaces where disabled people with complex disabilities, including deafblindness, can develop communication skills, independence and wellbeing, while taking part in arts, sports and community activities supported by skilled specialist staff and purpose-designed facilities.
Through their Disability Arts programme, Sense Arts works with professional disabled and non disabled artists to embed high-quality artistic practice within care and support settings, recognising disabled people as artists, collaborators and cultural contributors. This approach, often described as Disability Arts in Care, places creative practice at the centre of lived experience and access.
The exhibition presents collaborative work created with artist Natalie Zervou-Kerruish and Tanya Raabe-Webber, Artistic Director for Visual Arts at Sense, highlighting the creative voices and perspectives of disabled artists within the programme.
