Sensing Deeper: How “In Feeling” at the Fralin is Accelerating Accessibility

Charlotte Oleson / V Mag at UVA

Stroll into the Fralin’s Fall 2025 exhibit “In Feeling,”and you may question whether you’re actually in an art museum.

Unlike the traditional side-by-side paintings museum goers are familiar with, “In Feeling” features invisible paintings, an interactive tool encouraging intimate conversation, a sound bath with vibrating pillows, and a large piece named for exactly what it is: Polyurethane Foam.

“In Feeling” comes from the Greek translation of empathy - em = in; pathos = feeling. According to co-curator Kristen Nassif, “Empathy means to understand or experience the thoughts and feelings of someone else, and the exhibition questions whether one, that's even possible, and then two, the process for how we might get there.”

The exhibit brings forth conversations on disability and accessibility alongside empathy, challenging norms of what some may assume to be similar experiences for all. 

 “When we're trying to connect and understand somebody's lived experience of disability, there are inherent tensions that come out with that process,” Nassif said.  “The works in the exhibition make that journey visible and in the process, invite us to reconsider a lot of standard ideas we have around ideas like communication, connection and rest.”

Molly Joyce, co-curator and an artist featured in “In Feeling,” composes sonic accompaniment alongside recordings of responses from Charlottesville community members to various terminology like “rest” and “connection.” In addition to creating art that is socially engaged and communally driven, Joyce emphasized that “focusing on concepts that are really central to the disabled experience, yet relatable to all,” struck her. Joyce’s piece, “Perspective,” does just that, prompting visitors to engage with perspectives from disabled individuals and challenge misconceptions they may hold about experiences of disability and accessibility.

One major misconception about accessibility is the assumption that it aids only a small group of individuals. Instead, the Fralin finds that all visitors benefit. By tracking the use of supplemental audio recordings alongside artworks accessible via QR code, Nassif reports that many museum goers — not just a select few — are interacting with accessible features.

Such elements can serve as an entryway for visitors to engage with accessibility in a way that challenges how they think of art, museums and the world beyond. During Writer’s Eye — the museum’s annual program that invites participants to write poetry and prose inspired by visual art  — the Fralin sees a high volume of students from elementary through high school. When high school or college students have free time in the museum, they are often found lounging in JJJJJerome Ellis’s sound bath, soaking up sonic relaxation in a room equipped with speakers that project soothing frequencies, focusing audience attention on sound. 

Museum educators and docents at the museum report that during their tours, children’s immediate reactions to “In Feeling” reveal the comfort of full-sense engagement in a space where visitors are often expected to use only their eyes and stand for long periods of time. They share that excited whispers often occur in response to the instruction to “gently touch” one of the writer’s eye objects: Polyurethane Foam by artist Park McArthur. 

The massive foam block sits in the middle of the room, a material used for various purposes such as insulation and as a component of wheelchair cushioning, familiar to McArthur, who is a wheelchair user. After learning this information, elementary and middle schoolers often ask questions about what disability and accessibility mean, important questions according to Joyce, whose conversations with late disability activist Judith Heumann were integral in her understanding of disability as an identity category: 

“Her point is to say even just the term [disabled] more, because so many people shy away from it in general … hopefully [we’ll] legitimize it more as an actual minority, underrepresented identity, which has real-world effects with Social Security, Medicaid, etc,” Joyce said.

As Nassif reminds us, above all, “[accessibility] can't be an afterthought. For it to be genuine, it needs to be early on.” Implementing closed captioning, standardizing font size and recording audio versions of text are just a few examples that are easy to incorporate in visual works, both in and outside of the museum. Beyond instructional components of accessibility, “In Feeling” highlights that empathy through disability experiences can be playful and creative. A new project Joyce is working on involves recording the resonances of disability spaces, such as the American Disability Act compliant hallway between New Cabell and Wilson, to feature sonic experiences in disability spaces via acoustics rather than traditional visual elements. 

In Charlottesville, several local initiatives are making strides towards a more accessible city. Notable organizations include The Arc of the Piedmont, Kindness Café, and the Independent Resource Center. However, the city’s hilly nature and many stair-heavy structures, noted by both Nassif and Joyce, often pose a challenge to visitors. Though complete accessibility in the city remains a work in progress, Visit Charlottesville highlights a number of activities around Charlottesville and Albemarle County that meet the mark on palatability for all abilities.

As Nassif puts it best, “everything is an intentional choice.” Accessibility and empathy begin when you decide they matter.

Check out “In Feeling” before January 4th, while it’s still at the Fralin, or view the exhibit as it travels nationally through 2029.