Sights Unseen
Project Background
Sights Unseen built upon PhotoVoice's previous project with blind and visually impaired people, Beyond Sight. Working with The Organisation of Blind Africans and Caribbeans (OBAC) in the UK, Sight of Emotion in Mexico, and One-Plus-One in China, Photovoice has been introducing blind and visually impaired people in all three countries to the concept of Sensory Photography. This innovative methodology makes it possible for those with limited or no sight to both create and experience photographs, and to use photography as a way to communicate their experiences and the issues that affect them to friends, family, peers and the wider public.
UK workshops - Photography by blind and visually impaired people in the Afro Caribbean community in South London
PhotoVoice ran a course of ten photography workshops in the Spring of 2009, providing a group of eleven participants, all of whom were service users at OBAC, with training in digital photography using sensory photography techniques.
Following this course, an exhibition of the work produced was held for friends, family and staff at the offices of OBAC in South London.
PhotoVoice then provided training for five of the participants who were interested in becoming workshop leaders in order to be able to run ongoing workshops for other blind and visually impaired service users at OBAC. This group of peer facilitators were supported by PhotoVoice staff to deliver a second round of workshops in OBAC with a new group of participants. Again, this course ended with an exhibition showcasing their achievements in the OBAC offices.
Several participants in the first course also chose to use their new photographic skills to embark upon advocacy projects dealing with issues that they feel strongly about. These individuals also helped design a health advocacy campaign aimed specifically at the Afro-Caribbean community, highlighting the increased risk they face of certain conditions that can cause sight loss. As these conditions are treatable, sight loss can be prevented if the condition is identified early enough, so the campaign aims to highlight to those of African and Caribbean origin the importance of regular eye tests regardless of a lack of symptoms.
For more information about the advocacy phase of Sights Unseen click here.
In May 2009, two PhotoVoice facilitators travelled to Beijing to run photographic training workshops for blind and visually impaired people, supported by disabled media organisation One-Plus-One. Two days of training in facilitation skills and sensory photography methodology were held for two visually impaired people and two local photographers interested in becoming workshop leaders, and then the newly trained facilitation team supported five days of workshops led by the PhotoVoice facilitators.
Work by the Chinese group was showcased in the Beijing Art Fair 2009, bringing the photographs, their messages, and the concept of sensory photography to a varied international audience. The exhibition included tactile diagrams of certain images, and audio descriptions in Chinese and English to make the work accessible to all.
" When I first heard about Photo Voice, part of me thought that this is just an activity to suit the taste of non-disabled people. But soon after I joined the workshop I realized that Photo Voice is not just about photography. By taking pictures, we get a better understanding of the details around us. More important is that I could share my ideas with more people and that made me very excited. Before this project I asked the same question a lot of people ask: why should blind people do photography? I believe there are still many people who will ask this question, but I would like to answer them: why shouldn’t blind people take pictures?"
Yang Qingfeng
19th - 23rd January 2010
The Association of Photographers Gallery
81 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4QS
Photographs produced by individuals trained through the Sights Unseen workshops in China and the UK will be exhibited alongside work by blind and visually impaired photographers from Mexico who have been trained by Sight of Emotion. The work will be made accessible to everyone through the use of tactile diagrams, braille signage, and an audio trail around the exhibition that will give descriptions and captions for all the photos featured.
A talk on sensory photography will also be held at the AOP Gallery on Thursday 21st January at 6pm. To book a place RSVP to matt@photovoice.org
The Sight of Emotion Process - Sensory Photography
Participants learn to use senses other than sight to create images: hearing to judge distance, touch and smell to discover subjects. Once the photograph has been taken, textures and sounds will be used to achieve interpretation of the image. The idea is to demonstrate that although participants cannot see the photograph, they can feel and understand what they want to communicate through an image. They are able to share their world with the visual world, using their own sensorial perceptions. In discovering their abilities, participants gain a greater sense of self-esteem, inclusion, freedom of expression and independence. Learning photographic skills will give 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 will enable them to challenge the stigma of their daily lives and raise consciousness about the needs of people with sight problems.
PhotoVoice is producing a practioners' guide to sensory photography, which will be available in January 2010. For more details on PhotoVoice's methodology series click here.