Touching the Stars: How One Blind Artist Etched a New Language Into Metal
It’s funny how sometimes, the things you create while just trying to be yourself… end up changing everything.
For most of my life, I assumed tactile metal art must already be “a thing.” I figured if I could figure it out, surely other blind artists had too. Turns out? I might’ve invented a new style of art—without even knowing it.
Image: Embossed metallic artwork in a black frame, featuring a boar with a pig nestled inside its body, symbolizing "My Inner Child." Ornate patterns, Braille, and text appear above the animals.
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That’s what makes Zodiac Crossroads, my solo exhibition currently showing at The Annex Gallery in Richmond, BC, so surreal.
🗓️ Exhibit runs from May 4 – September 14, 2025
📍 The Annex Gallery, Richmond Cultural Centre Annex
📍 7660 Minoru Gate, Richmond, BC V6Y 1R8
🎟️ Admission is free
This isn’t just another show. For me, it’s a homecoming.
Richmond: My City, My Return
Image: The Pisces Scam: Embossed metallic artwork showing ox, cat, rat, and two-headed fish. Depicts zodiac race moment when the rat tricks the cat, pushing it into water while pointing at the fish.
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I’ve lived in Richmond for nearly 30 years. And though my art has made its way into Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Langley, and beyond, I never had a solo show here—until now.
It’s poetic, really. To bring a show rooted in Eastern and Western fusion, made tactile for Blind, d/Deaf, and disabled visitors, to a city as multicultural and diverse as Richmond—it just fits. Like I’ve circled back to the very place that shaped me, offering something new in return.
Zodiac Crossroads is more than sculptures of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs. It’s about identity, ancestry, and the journey of returning to your roots. It’s about blending myth with modernity, turning touch into storytelling.
A Show Three Years in the Making
Image: The Rooster Solution: Embossed metal artwork depicts a giant rooster and scorpion towering over bones and skulls, using tactile details to emphasize their immense scale and dramatic presence.
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You know what else blew my mind?
I learned recently that many career artists never get a solo show—not in their first five years, not in a decade, sometimes not ever. Meanwhile, I’m still calling myself a “newbie,” just three years into my professional art journey, and here I am with my own solo exhibit.
That realization shook me.
Because the truth is, I often feel like I’m fumbling around—making things up as I go, unsure if I’m doing it right. I’m still nervous. Still insecure. Still wondering if what I do is “good enough.” But maybe that’s the point. Sometimes we don’t realize how powerful our own work is until we see it reflected back through others’ eyes.
I guess I’ve been touching stars this whole time… and only just now noticed the light on my fingertips.
Come See—Or Feel—For Yourself
Image: Embossed metallic artwork of the mythological Chinese Kui, titled "Storm Bull." The powerful, horned creature emerges from swirling ocean waves, framed simply, with dynamic textures suggesting movement and stormy energy.
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If you happen to catch this post before September 14, 2025, you can still experience Zodiac Crossroads in person. Everyone is welcome—blind, sighted, curious, skeptical, young, old, artists, wanderers, lovers of touch and texture.
And if you’re feeling adventurous, we’re also running two free inclusive tactile art workshops on:
🗓️ July 5 and July 12, 2025
🕐 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
📍 Creativity Lab, Richmond Cultural Centre Annex
🎨 Led by: Johnny (Tiger) Tai, Kay Slater, Keimi Nakashima Ochoa
Image: A round aluminum pie plate with an embossed, tactile floral and leaf pattern is held in two hands with silver rings. The background shows trays, papers, and a casual workshop setting.
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These workshops are thoughtfully created for Blind, d/Deaf, and non-verbal participants—but open to anyone curious about inclusive, sensory-based art-making.
Whether you're seeing this in time to visit the gallery or reading this years from now, I want you to know this:
Never underestimate what you're creating. You may think you're just surviving, just experimenting, just messing around—but you might be reshaping the world quietly, one gesture at a time.
You don’t have to feel special to be doing something extraordinary.
You just have to keep doing you.
🌐 Explore more at TigerTactile.com
📷 Follow @JohnnyTiger1981 on Instagram
📣 #TigerTactile #ZodiacCrossroads #DisabilityArt #TactileArt #InclusiveArt #BlindArtist #RichmondArt #JohnnyTai #TouchTheStars
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