One of the world’s most famous nude sculptures: Aphrodite, known as the “Venus de Milo,” late 2nd century BC, at the Louvre.



Had to think about it for a minute, didn’t you?

About 4 years ago, Lisa J. Murphy decided to translate her nude photographs into tactile images for the blind and vision impaired. Murphy was volunteering at the Canadian Institute for the Blind when she got the idea.

So she set to work sculpting and thermoforming her photographs. (Thermoforming stretches a heated plastic sheet over a mold to capture a shape.) When she was done, she self-published the book and gave it the title tactile mind.

The book contains 3-D tactile photographs made from Braille paper, diagramming foil, clay and white thermoform plastic.

All 17 of the images are accompanied by Braille and pictures.

Murphy hopes to generate interest in more original literature for people who are blind or vision impaired.

What follows is a link to the book’s website and some of the images. WARNING: NSFW. These are nudes, so open the link at your discretion: tactilemindbook.com.

The limited edition book isn’t cheap.

It’s $225 and can be ordered through the website. Each copy is numbered and signed by Murphy.

“I will continue creating copies of this book until I decide to move onto another project,” Murphy wrote to me, in an email. “As long as I have my masters, the plastic, and my thermoform machine, all is a go. This work was a labour of love for me.”