What Blocked Visual Stimuli in Art brings to Emotional Expression

Blindness is often defined as a sensory state with negative implications. However, this may be an uncertain conclusion. There has been a longstanding and fundamental debate about how emotions are conveyed through art. Some artists and theorists argue that visual features like color, line, form, and composition consistently express various emotions, while others believe that non-visual senses resonate more with the audience, conveying a stronger emotional connection. This article is inspired by blindness and explores how vision-able participants discover the potentiality of participatory creative process while blindfolded and without visual stimuli. In this case study, revolving around an experiment with blindfolded creative participants at the sensory arts festival, and used to analyze the non-visual characteristics of potential emotional expression by using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). Authors found that evidence of consistency in emotional ratings by participants in the art practice process perceived under the visual blocked. Overall, the authors’ results reveal enhanced use and sensitivity of non-visual senses when visual stimuli are blocked, indicating a strong bottom-up and subjective expression of emotions. Scenario enactment offers a different perspective on artistic creation and its emotional value, tapping into fundamental non-visual mechanisms.