A gallery setting. A woman sits and lifts the sculptural ceramic object, placing it on her lap. She moves it until it settles comfortably across her thighs, then she begins to explore the surface with her hands, both the shape of the piece and its texture. She turns it over and lifting the piece holds it against her torso. Her arms cradle it.

 

Touch is the first sense to form in the womb and often the last sense to leave us. How much touch we need, how we perceive it, whether we find touch pleasant or distasteful, and how we react to it, vary from person to person. It is influenced by factors such as our genetic make-up, experiences as foetus, baby, child, and adult, our gender, the attitudes and mores of our society, our personal circumstances, and our emotional and physical state at any one time. Although universal, touch is an utterly intimate and individual experience.