Image - photograph by Cheryl Gabriel. © Cheryl Gabriel/Sight of Emotion/PhotoVoice
A new exhibition has been unveiled at Cardiff University, showcasing a selection of photographs taken by blind and partially sighted people from around the globe.
The photographs were taken by participants at workshops in London and Mexico City as part of a Sight of Emotion project run by the charity PhotoVoice.
The exhibition, titled Beyond Sight, is on display at the School of Optometry and Vision Sciences – a department considered as the leader in its field in the UK, having attained the highest ratings for both research and teaching quality.
Head of School, Professor Tim Wess, said: “We are delighted to be hosting such an important exhibition which celebrates the participation of blind and partially sighted people in the arts.”
There are 45 million blind people across the globe with a further 120 million with visual impairments. In the UK alone, there are two million people with sight problems.
(Above) Photograph by Tanvir Bush. © Tanvir Bush/Sight of Emotion/PhotoVoice
The Sight of Emotion project is designed to celebrate blind photography, aiming to empower visually impaired communities to build a dialogue with sighted people.
It works by creating awareness and educating about the needs and experiences of visually impaired people.
The participants are encouraged to use other senses to help them produce a good image, for example using their hearing to judge the location of an object and touch and smell to discover the object.
The organisation works on the philosophy that although the participants cannot see the photograph, they can understand and feel what they want to communicate through an image.
Beyond Sight is the latest in a line of public art on show at the School, which includes the Shifting Perspectives Exhibition, designed to challenge misconceptions surrounding the diagnosis of Down’s syndrome, as well as paintings produced by female Pakistani artists living in Wales.
The exhibition is open on weekdays 9 am – 5 pm.
