Project Background
AIM
To empower blind and visually impaired communities around the world to create a dialogue with the seeing world, creating awareness and educating public audiences of the needs and experiences of the visually disabled.
Sight of Emotion is a project designed to celebrate blind photography. Over the course of a year, participatory workshops were held in London and Mexico City for 24 blind and partially sighted participants. The body of work they created will be used to educate public audiences of the needs and experiences of the visually disabled and to promote dialogue and understanding between blind and seeing communities.
In discovering their abilities, participants gain a greater sense of self-esteem, inclusion, freedom of expression and independence. Learning the skills of photography gives participants a new form of communication and a channel for self-advocacy – a new way of articulating their experiences, needs, hopes and concerns to the seeing world. Their photographs enable them to challenge the stigma of their daily lives and raise consciousness about the needs of people with sight problems.
“In photography I have found an additional expression, besides the verbal, physical and emotional expression”.
Gerardo Nigenda, blind photographer
Project Founder and Coordinator: Gina Alfonisa Badenoch
ginabadenoch5@yahoo.com.mx
Gina is a PhotoVoice-trained freelance facilitator and the founder of the Sight of Emotion project. With an MA in Image and Communication from Goldsmiths University, London, Gina has based this project on extensive research carried out on the subject of blind photography.