Steph Roberts

Text: Steph Roberts
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Cymraeg
A hand holding up a magnifying glass to a black and white print laid on a table.

The Blind Harpists: Another Look

A collaborative Audio Description project exploring the representation of blindness in historic art. Funded by Understanding British Portraits Network.

Four women gathered around a table in a colourful art activity room, smiling and making clay sculptures.
making clay sculptures
A pair of hands making a small head in terracotta clay
a clay head for the women rarely represented in art
A woman in a hi vis jacket standing in front of an old portrait of a harpist, in a museum gallery.
Steph with one of the portraits at National Museum Cardiff
A sculpture of a harp in terracotta clay. Behind it we can see a person with their arms crossed, sitting at the table.
a clay harp by Margaret
Two women leaning against a table, looking closely at a black and white print of a harpist. One of them is holding a magnifying glass to the image.
using a magnifying glass as a visual aid
A small clay sculpture of a person in a long cloak playing a harp. It sits on a paper plate.
Siân's blind harpist in clay
A group of people sitting on plastic chairs in an art gallery. Someone is standing in front of them, in a hi-vis jacket, talking about the art on the walls.
gallery discussions
A pair of hands working on a clay sculpture. The clay is terracotta, and the sculpture is around hand size.
playing with clay using a foil base
A hand holding a magnifying glass up to a black and white drawing.
exploring prints

What does it mean as a disabled person to be ‘seen’ – or not – in museums and cultural spaces?

For The Blind Harpists: Another Look, I worked with a group of blind and partially blind artists to explore this question, for a research fellowship funded by Understanding British Portraits Network.

Together we took another ‘look’ at portraits of blind harpists at National Museum Cardiff. 

Through conversation and a creative workshop in clay, we explored how blindness is represented in the portraits, and what it means as a blind person to be ‘seen’ – or not seen – in cultural spaces.

The project resulted in the creation of new, co-created Audio Descriptions, updated interpretation for the paintings, and an Audio Described film documenting the process. You can read more about the process in this article I wrote for CELF.

Through researching for the project I found out a lot about the historical representation of blind harpists in art. I wrote about this research for Art UK, ‘Ravishing blind harmony’: John Parry, the famous Welsh harper and images of blindness in art’.

Credits

With thanks to the contributors Bridie, Emma, Lou, Margaret, Siân, Rebecca, and Rosanna.

Research fellowship funded by Understanding British Portraits Network, supported by Amgueddfa Cymru and Sight Life.

Film by Elin Mannion and Robert Cannon.

A semi-abstract painting of a mountain range at sunset, painted in purples, burnt oranges and blue.

Slow Looking at Art videos

A slow, meditative look at paintings by Gwen John and J.D. Innes, yn y Gymraeg. Commissioned by Arts Council of Wales for the Cultural Cwtsh.

How can we use art and digital resources to support the wellbeing of NHS and healthcare staff?

That was the question posed to us for this commission for the Cultural Cwtsh, a digital health project funded by Arts Council of Wales.

When I was bedbound with health issues, I spent a lot of time listening to guided meditations. For this commission, I wanted to see how this could be combined with looking at art, using creative Audio Description techniques.

The two Slow Looking videos (below) were the result: gentle invites to listen, observe, and slow down. Something that can be done easily at a work desk, or on a lunch break.

The videos are slow-paced with a meditative feel, and last around 5 minutes. Lots of galleries have Slow Looking resources available, but there are very few yn y Gymraeg. 

The Letter, by Gwen John, 1924

Gwen John made several versions of this painting, using the same model. She painted the first in 1919, as a gift for her friend Isabel Bowser, who was terminally ill with cancer. Isabel died before Gwen finished the painting. She grieved this for many years later.

 

The Moelwynion from Llan Ffestiniog by J.D. Innes, 1912-13

Innes painted this scene sometime between 1912 and 1913; the most productive years of his life. Aware that his health was deteriorating, he produced about two paintings a day, perhaps driven by an attempt to overcome his illness. He died of tuberculosis in 1914, aged 27.

Credits

Gwen John, The Letter. Photo © Manchester Art Gallery / Bridgeman Images, reproduced with kind permission of Manchester Art Gallery

James Dickson Innes (1887–1914), The Moelwyns from Llan Ffestiniog, oil on panel, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund, B1990.2.1. Public Domain.

Videos filmed and edited by Elin Mannion and Robert Cannon, with voiceovers by Bethan Harvey.

A person with a black service dog stands at the bottom of an escalator. Above them is text that reads 'Help us design a life without barriers'

The Unfair Index

A UK-wide survey for disabled people to to help create more inclusively designed products and services.

One in five people in the UK are disabled. For many of us, something as simple as leaving our homes or travelling to work can be filled with barriers. That’s not fair, and it needs to change.

I’ve been working alongside Designability as a Lived Experience Advisor since 2025, helping to shape their major UK-wide research survey, The Unfair Index.

A person in a wheelchair, with text above them reading 'Share your everyday barriers, help design a fairer future'
A young child wearing a bright yellow top and a brighter smile is using a mobility aid
Logo: The Unfair Index

The aim is to find the biggest areas of unfairness facing disabled people in everyday life; and to identify where better, designed products or services are most urgently needed.

As Lived Experience Advisors, we helped shape Designability’s approach to the survey and how the findings will be used, drawing from our own lived experiences.

Read about my experience as a Lived Experience Advisor in this blog post.