blindfold

date 1996
location handrail and balustrade liverpool library, sydney
medium sand blasted glass, stainless steel, jarrah, brass
dimensions variable
photographer artist & others
collection liverpool city council

…touching upon the inlaid braille text with the finger tips…this writing in the dark is a sensual experience which traces the potential of yet another language.

artist statement

‘blind fold’ reflects the enormous cultural diversity

more than twenty five different languages woven

a void space between two floors

open heart


a balustrade and a handrail.

stainless steel


psyche from the school of fontainebleau.

she is represented sitting with infinite folds of fabric draped gently around her body.

the reworking is a fragmented translation of the baroque

motion in the folds of the fabric,

thirty eight large sheets of glass

sandblasted balustrade.

the blood red jarrah handrail

finger tips 
 this writing in the dark


yet another language.

…two floors that are separated by a fold that echoes itself.

text for braille handrail

3015mm  - ascending the staircase into a void space between two floors you enter ‘blind fold’… this work is a blood red jarrah handrail and a balustrade with 38 large sheets of sand blasted glass carrying fragmented translations of the baroque motion in folds of fabric. more than 25 different languages are woven into the folds.

1540mm –  this writing in the dark is yet another language, read by finger tips.

2940mm ‘psyche’ from the school of fontainebleau by l c masters

1540mm – liverpool council, stephenson and turner architects, geoffrey litho press, harradence glass, djq industries and anna kortschek collaborated to produce blind fold by robyn backen 1996

2860mm –  the library will endure; illuminated, solitary, infinite, equipped with precious volumes, perfectly motionless, useless, incorruptible secrets

810mm –  …two floors that are separated by a fold that echoes itself back