Artist Kat Germain unpacks the nuances of her role as an audio describer. 

By, Sama Nemat Allah 

In a society where the indisputable gap between the art world and the communities who have long been denied access to it is ever prevalent, people like Kat Germain are working to fix it. 

Germain is a writer, educator, and disability justice activist whose work aims to bridge this gap. As an audio describer and visual translator, Germain practices the art of talking pictorially, transforming predominantly visual art mediums like theatre, into words.  

Germain’s work supporting marginalized communities can be traced back to her upbringing in Toronto’s Little India, where she recognized a stark difference between the people around her and those represented in mainstream media.  

“I was very aware in Toronto that the people reflected on stages and screens were not reflecting the community that I lived in: my neighbours, my friends, my family,” said Germain.

So as a theatre student at Acadia University, Germain began writing roles and working with traditionally marginalized communities as a means of diversifying the contemporary acting world. Her path eventually led her to Rose Jacobson, the artistic principal at Picasso PRO. It is an organization that aims to support artists with disabilities on Canadian stages and screens, as well as among creators, leaders and advocates.  

“I started working with them and helping them facilitate some of their classes and workshops,” she said. 

“They went and got a grant to offer audio description training and I was one of the eight people who got in.”

Audio description makes live or recorded events more accessible. Although it is often created for the blind/partially sighted/low vision community, it is readily employed by neurodiverse folks and individuals with sensory sensitivities.

“I have a friend who’s on the autism spectrum and they listen to audio descriptions because it helps them know where to look. There are so many communities that use it.”

To Germain, one of the most important parts of her job is the upkeep. She says that the preservation of the visual translation craft requires regular and consistent practice, as well as frequent research on what contemporary language is employed by and for members of the disabled community.

Apart from describing theatre, Germain also applies her learned competencies to the visual and fine arts sector. 

She has recently worked with Akimbo, a Toronto-based visual arts company that promotes the Canadian fine arts scene. Through individual coaching sessions, Germain supported Akimbo in their efforts to increase accessibility on their social media platforms by describing the art pieces and artists featured on their page 

“While teaching, I say to look at the image for five seconds and write down what you see,” she said. “When describing visual work, I suggest thinking about where your personal eyes go first in that photograph? Is it a bright spot? Is it a face?”

However, according to Germain, this media accessibility medium is still in need of improvements. Even though image description works to aid marginalized communities, she believes that traditional descriptions often end up marginalizing racialized communities further.

“Traditionally in North America, race is not described unless it is specifically relevant to the plot or character development,” she said. 

Because there has been a tendency not to describe markers of cultural background, I personally feel like that is further silencing and erasing people from stages and screens.”

In order to describe people in a way that is “just, accurate and respectful for not only the people who are being described but also the people who I’m describing,” she asserts that honouring art means informing people about who is and isn’t represented on their stages, screens and galleries. 

“With many people, there is a tendency still, if race or ability or gender is not mentioned, to assume that it’s a white cis person who doesn’t have a disability. So those things need to be said.”

But how do we reach a point where everything around us is accessible to all? Germain believes it’s through education, care and art. 

“The weight is often carried by the people who need the access or the justice,” said Germain. “But art helps us make meaning of the world in general and build our own identities. So when there is accessibility work and justice work within it, it starts becoming more ingrained in people.”

Germain draws on the nuances and complexities of being a visual translator in an upcoming presentation entitled Visual Translation and the Amazing Broken Telephone Kaleidoscope. Within it, she reflects on how her translation efforts manifest when translating signed music by Deaf artists.

Streaming January 22, 2 pm – January 27, 5 pm, 2021, check out the presentation here:https://www.blackwoodgallery.ca/program/translation-camouflage-spectatorship