Możliwości i ograniczenia audiodeskrypcji dzieł sztuki na przykładzie obrazu Taniec Salome (Salome z tatuażem) Gustave’a Moreau

Fundacja Audiodeskrypcja (Audio Description Foundation), based in Białystok, has for years implemented the ‘iSztuka’ (iArt) project to present works of art to the blind and visually impaired. As a result of a joint effort of art historians, audio description (AD) narrators, and people with visual impairments, several hundred of contextual analyses and audio descriptions of works of art have been prepared and shared online. This paper focuses on problems faced by AD narrators who present works of art. How to talk about a work of art to help a blind person feel it and understand its social and historical context? What motivates the decision to highlight certain aspects and omit others? Gustave Moreau’s Salome dancing before Herod (Tattooed Salome) is used as a pretext for the unfolding analysis of the audio description language, with its limitations and possibilities. This painting was included in the canon of works prepared as part of the ‘iSztuka’ project. Rich in colour nuances, Salome is a complex work, both in terms of the form and iconography, carrying dozens of significant motifs. It allows the AD narrators to show their talents when capturing the specific nature of the epoch in the description and analysis of iconography. However, it also poses a challenge. How to talk about Salome to adequately create its ‘spoken’ image, capture details that build a network of cultural meanings and references, and reflect the atmosphere of the work and the period, while adapting the description to the visitors’ ability of perception?