Celebrating the 200th birthday of Louis Braille

Braille on Manly Beach

Sand sculpting between two high tides
on West Esplanade Beach, Manly Cove
Sunday 20th September 2009 from 9 am to 9 pm

Aerial view of Manly Beach with sand sculpted braille message

Image courtesy of Manly Council. Date of Aerial Photography 2007 @ SKM

Braille on Manly Beach (BOMB), conceived and directed by Anne Walton, is a one-of-a- kind celebration that will take place on West Esplanade Beach, right beside Sydney's famous Manly Wharf.

A giant braille message will be made in the sand as the tide goes out; by the end of the day the message will dissolve with the incoming tide. There will be guided tours of the 23-dot braille message at regular intervals as it unfolds throughout the day. Formalities will take place around sunset, and visitors will be welcome to stay and experience the poetic symbolism as the braille message becomes one with the ever-present, ever-changing sea.

Dennis Massoud, a well-known sand sculptor who is vision-impaired, will guide us in sculpting the sand message. Each braille dot will be 1 metre in diameter and 0.5 metres high. Small teams of blind and sighted volunteers will work with Dennis in shifts throughout the day, shoveling sand, bucketing water and pressing the mixture into customised perspex molds made by B&M Plastics. The method has been trialled and teams are already forming — First Balgowlah Scouts, Manly Art Gallery, Creative Mums, Itinerant Support Teachers Vision, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT, Accessible Arts and Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children.

2009 is the bicentennial of the birth of Louis Braille, the young French boy who invented the Braille code. On 20th September 2009, the spirit of Louis Braille meets the spirit of Australia at play in the sand, the sun and the sea. There are still opportunities for teams to be involved, so please feel free to contact Anne if you would like to find out more.

Work begins on sand sculpting a giant braille dot A blind woman stands on the first giant braille dot, white cane raised in victory A group gathers around the finished braille dot, touching it.

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BOMB is a project of braillespace.com. It will be part of the 2009 Manly Arts Festival, and has been made possible by a grant from the Community Partnerships division of the Australia Council and support from B & M Plastics.