Wellington Street Art – Stainless Steel Braille Sculpture
Wellington has quite a lot of sculpture around the streets. I’ll feature some of the more unusual ones over the coming weeks. This one is called “Invisible City“. It looks like it should say something in Braille – but it doesn’t – that’s art I guess! Actually its a useful place to meet people as its on the corner of Grey Street and Lambton Quay – but this part of the street has blocked off and there are a few benches to sit on. Its also very close to both useful places (several large banks and a computer store) and tourist spots – the Cable Car to the Botanic Gardens, and the famous (in Wellington) old department store Kirkcaldie and Staines. I rather like Wellington’s sculptures, they generally don’t take themselves too seriously! They really only started popping up in the 1980’s and I think they’ve really livened up the central city.
I am a Resource Teacher Vision – an itinerant teacher of the blind and vision impaired. I am a fully sighted braille reader, and can confirm for you that this ‘jumbo braille’ does in fact contain a message. It has to be read around each slab. It is a poem by Dr Peter Beatson entitled “Invisible City”.