Seeing the World Through Eyes of Those Who Struggle to do so
I am an avid fan of the arts, always have been and I always will be. For me, I do it because first and foremost, it’s a good way to occupy myself when I have any spare time (and if I can be bothered if the mood arises). But I also do it as it’s therapeutic, not because I am trying to find a way to express myself as I cannot find the words to say, but because I just happen to find it relaxing. Also it’s one of the ways where I can let my mind run wild for a bit and for my creativity to come out and play at the same time.
Now I also happen to browse for random things online, just general snooping around really, mainly to see what’s happening in the world without having to leave the comfort of my home. Or in my case the sofa. This particular item caught my eye and read it a few times over. The content genuinely fascinated me.
The story imparticular was about a photography gallery but what was interesting about it was was that the people who had produced the work had visual impairment. Basically they were clinically blind.
Now I have always been impressed by art from the Disability Community because I know that first and foremost some of the people from the groups have no arm or leg limbs. This gallery though is from people who are nearly blind and so I have always been intrigued and fascinated by how they were able to create their individual pieces.
Braille, which is a format medium that blind people also use to read is also being used as well, but not to actually read things. Instead, it’s being used to give a more physical 3D type dimension to their work. There have been a few art places I have been to where the exhibited work has been in multiple layers or using other materials where people have been invited to touch it. For this though, Braille has been used as a physical format so as to allow people to touch it, other than just looking at it.
When I first looked a bit more into this story I was rather surprised, but also impressed by it. One of the reasons for this is that I have always viewed the topic of pregnancy quite an intimate subject, the other being that you are being allowed to see exactly what’s happening inside the body of another human being. A woman’s no less. Last time I saw a story about this was a woman who had created some human torsos made out of fabric. Each torso represented a physical experience that she had been and it was displayed in a way that corresponded with how she felt.
On one torso she put rips into it, this was because she’d suffered a miscarriage and the torso was supposed to show how she felt at the time.
Though I have never created artwork which was a representation of either an experience I had gone through or something I’d felt I have always admired those who’d made such work.
In many ways art has been by people show their own truths, expressions and experiences and I have always been a long-term admirer of that. Some people use art to tell a universal truth, others use it to tell their own individual truths. And these people who live with visual impairment are using it to share their own personal experiences and are using a language, created for their communication needs, to help tell it.
Good for you lot I say, good for you
After further reading though I also learnt that audio description was used as well. For me, I just think that this is truly groundbreaking and in a way is almost like someone saying to another ‘welcome to how I view the world around me’. Of course it wasn’t without its negatives as one of the women who took part in this did say that both Social Workers and Medical Staff did question her ability to care for her own child. I just hate that attitude. I mean as much as I can understand why it’d be asked it’s the fact that they questioned it before she’d even begun being a mum.
I wonder what those very same people thought when they saw her art alongside that of others with similar problems. Well for a start I hope that it’d be enough for them to be able to question the usual typical things. If people with limited vision can create some amazing works of art then what else can they do? Now there’s a question you could in fact be asking yourself.
Though I’ve only seen a few snippets online I wouldn’t mind seeing an entire gallery worth and seeing experiences the way these amazing people do.
