AI Lets Blind People Feel Photographs for the First Time

For most of us, photographs are an essential way to relive memories and connect with loved ones. But for millions of blind and visually impaired people, photos have always been out of reach. Now, thanks to new advances in artificial intelligence and 3D technology, images can finally be experienced through touch.

Touch: Beyond Vision,a one-day exhibition held at London’s OXO2 Gallery on 15 September 2025, showcased a world-first technology developed by design software company Carveco. The AI tool transforms any photograph into a tactile 3D model in just minutes, which can then be 3D printed or CNC carved into physical artwork.

Alongside still photography, the team also released a short film capturing the emotional moment blind participants touched photographs of loved ones for the first time.

Touch Beyond Vision

Unlike many headlines about AI replacing jobs or raising risks, this project highlights the positive side of AI, technology that includes rather than excludes. For blind visitors, the impact was profound.

“Growing up as a blind person, photographs were always for someone else,” said Chris Norman, one of the contributors. “The first time I touched a raised image of my wedding day, I cried. I could finally feel the details that sighted people had always talked about.”

The exhibition features:

18 tactile artworks of British icons – from David Bowie and The Beatles to Stonehenge and Edinburgh Castle.

The Mural Wall, displaying personal photographs from blind participants, reborn as touchable 3D art.

Live demonstrations, showing how photos can be transformed into tactile models on the spot.

The Sim Specs experience, where sighted visitors wore simulation glasses to understand how blind people explore the world by touch.


Robert Newman, Managing Director of Carveco, said:
“Our mission is simple. Every gallery should include tactile artwork for the blind, and every home should have the ability to create tactile memories. Technology should be about inclusion, empathy, and access – and with AI, we can finally make that possible.”




Event date: 15 September 2025, OXO2 Gallery, London open to the public

More info: www.touch-beyond-vision.com

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Press Contact

Robert Newman
07968230086
robert.newman@carveco.com
Pheasant Oak Barn
Solihull
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Press Photocall
15th September - 9am-12pm with Lucy Edwards (BBC Radio) and Chris Fisher (ITV Money for Nothing).