The goal of Burning Tears is to develop new modes of visual description. This project grew out of the desire to include blind and low vision audience members in the experience of engagement, resonance, and visceral communion that may occur in response to visual art.

In a series of online workshops held in 2022, artists, poets, pyrotechnicians, audio describers and accessibility specialists explore descriptions of visual arts using fireworks as our subject matter. We use structured activities to explore questions such as: How can we translate light into words? How do we describe movement and shape? What helps us imagine what we cannot see? The project also includes the development of an interactive digital platform where participants can describe fireworks in their own words.

Who we are

About Collin

Collin van Uchelen, Ph.D., is a Conceptual Artist and Community Psychology Consultant based in Vancouver, British Columbia. His artistic practice focuses on collaborative approaches for translating art into forms that are accessible with the non-visual senses. Most recently, he designed Project Fire Flower, an exhibition that presents the shapes of fireworks in physical form — revealing the transient and dynamic structures of their light as if frozen in time.

About Tangled Arts + Disability

Tangled Art + Disability is dedicated to connecting professional and emerging artists, the arts community, and a diverse public through creative passion and artistic excellence. Our mission is to support Disabled, d/Deaf, chronically ill, neurodiverse, k/crip, Mad, sick & spoonie artists; to cultivate Disability Arts in Canada; and to increase opportunities for everyone to participate in the arts.