Aimed at the blind, visually impaired and sighted alike, this incredible work of relief art is accompanied by a soundtrack and a scent.
The antlers flourish on the cover. We can feel the branches in relief, admire the silhouette in contrast. The tree reveals its size on the first page of the book Venerable Larch. This work of art is the first accessible to all: blind, visually impaired and sighted people. «On lit ensemble, explains its author, Gilles Mottet. Everyone can be found in this book. You feel it, you listen to it, you touch it.” The story is in fact told in braille, in large characters and in relief and is accompanied by a musical work and a perfume. The adventure is therefore visual, tactile, auditory and olfactory. Let’s turn the pages.
The story begins with bad weather at the end of summer. The storm roars above its summit. THE “venerable larch” is struck by lightning. The lightning leaves the top of the trunk “charred”with “a hollow orifice”. From this handicap will be born a meeting and a music. Another thunderous day, two little girls shelter from the rain under its branches. They discover that the larch tree sings.
The reader plunges into a mountainous valley in the Alpes-Maritimes. It follows the adventures of this resilient, 500-year-old tree. “The question is: how can we bring trees to the blind? How to give access to nature to everyone, how to take ownership of the parks?develops Gilles Mottet, also a flautist working in schools. We campaign for inclusion. It opens gigantic doors.”
According to the author, only 5% of works published annually in France are also published in Braille. The Arboretum editions were created especially for Venerable Larch. And the forty pages of the book, a jewel of ingenuity, were complex to produce. It was necessary to create tactile relief, embossing, contrast, braille, large print, music, perfume… Around fifteen people worked on its design for three years. Anne is a blind reader. She testifies to her “happiness of reading with your own fingers”of “discover a powerful smell” : “I touch the different engravings and I can identify the shape of the larch in its environment quite easily”she rejoices. Beyond the technical aspect, Venerable Larch is very elegant with its ecru Italian paper and its large golden spirals. It’s just waiting for a shelf to be displayed. Since its publication in May, the book has been circulating in both literary and landscape fairs, which are in no way specialized in disability. It is sold in general bookstores.
In Nice, the specialized public school Le Château welcomes visually impaired or blind children. Six copies are available to schoolchildren. Jean-Luc Gagliolo, municipal elected official and deputy for education, was present during the delivery of the work. “The children were dazzledhe reports. They spontaneously read with emotion the different facets of the work.” Gilles Mottet would like to print 2000 copies of his book. Afterwards, the author dreams of a second volume, based on transhumance and sheep.
We finished sliding the embossing under the fingers, the music in the ears and the perfume under the nose. The journey with the tree comes to an end. We turn the last page: a molding of larch bark closes the reading.
The Venerable Larchby Gilles Mottet, editions of the Arboretum, 48 pp., €40.
Source: www.liberation.fr
