" My overall experience with the PhotoVoice training taught me to not restrain myself from participating in activities that most people think require sight. Although many people are unable to sing perfectly, they can still enjoy the feeling of music. Even though we can’t always photograph exactly what we want, we can still experience the same feeling a photographer."
JinLing, China

Beyond Sight took place in 2007 and consisted of workshops in Mexico and the UK with blind and partially sighted participants from a variety of backgrounds. The project culminated in an accessible exhibition at the Association of Photographers Gallery in London, which was extremely well received by public and press alike. The exhibition included a number of photographs by professional photographers, made accessible through the use of tactile diagrams and accompanying audio guides and descriptions.

Some participants from the Beyond Sight UK workshops went on to become facilitators in the Sights Unseen project, and two were awarded PhotoVoice bursaries that allowed them to undertake personal phtoography projects resulting in a joint exhibition in London in 2009.

Mexico Workshops
Since the beginning of 2006 workshops have been run in Mexico by Ojos Que Sienten A.C / Sight of Emotion, teaching photography to blind adults and children, and sometimes also sighted people so that they become sensitized to the experience of using their other senses. In addition to the workshops, OQS curated an exhibition of photos taken by blind students in the Papalote Museum for Children in Mexico City, alongside the well known international “Dialogue in the Dark” exhibition.

UK Workshops
In May - June 2007 a series of eight photography workshops were held in London for nine participants with visual impairments ranging from slightly impaired vision to complete blindness. Participants were taught to use their other senses to explore the environment, objects and people around them and to capture elements that had meaning to them using a digital camera.

"There is a lot of ignorance out there from people thinking we can’t do it when we know differently."
Jane, workshop participant