See as No Other: Photographs by the Visually Impaired
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About this ebook
Photography by the visually impaired sets them on an insightful journey that connects with the self in many ways, giving them dignity, a new voice and hope. The narratives provided by the visually impaired photographers alongside their photographs in this book provide compelling insights into the creative process; how another sense fills in for sight lost. The camera serves as the new eye of the visually impaired. The dominance and mix of one or more of the senses caught in a photograph reveals that a finger has eyes, the ear has eyes, and the mind has eyes.
While bringing to light the work of the Blind With Camera project, the book showcases some of the more accomplished blind photographers in the world who have embraced blindness as a dark, paradoxical gift, their work expressing the philosophy that in blindness, true art exists.
See As No Other celebrates human diversity, carrying us into a world of illuminated darkness to explore and debate what sight and seeing is really all about.
Partho Bhowmick
Partho Bhowmick is a Mumbai-based independent photographer; he started the Blind with Camera project in 2006. Hundreds of visually impaired have trained in photography under him. Partho have curated several inclusive photography exhibitions in India and abroad. He conducts blindfold “sensory” photography workshops for sighted and a speaker on renewed social photography. He has won several national awards.
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Book preview
See as No Other - Partho Bhowmick
Copyright © 2015 Partho Bhowmick. All rights reserved.
Edited by Monisha Pinto
Designed by Parvez Mangalorewala
First Edition published in 2015
by Partridge Publishing India
1663 Liberty Drive, Bloomington, IN 47403, USA.
11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110 017, India.
www.partridgepublishing.com
ISBN
978-1-4828-4277-7 (sc)
978-1-4828-4278-4 (e)
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Foreword ©2015 by Douglas McCulloh
Afterword ©2015 by Dr. Simon Hayhoe
Essays ©2015 by Partho Bhowmick
All photographs are reproduced with the permission of the respective photographers.
www.partridgepublishing.com/india
05/14/2015
23700.pngContents
Preface
Foreword
Journey from darkness to light
The Inner Gallery
Fingers have Eyes
Ears have Eyes
Memory has Eye
Fading Sight has Eyes
Emotions have Eyes
Who is Blind in a Darkroom
Connecting with Self
Recognising another world
Masters of Dark Light
Afterword
SEE AS NO OTHER
"Photography by the blind? Of course! In the four corners of the world, ice age art reveals that homo sapiens love images. Photos show the surfaces of the tangible world, and the same surfaces make the visible world. Perspectives in the pictures tell us we are inside buildings, on the stairs or beside a gate. These are perspectives that touch shares with vision. We discover what things mean through many senses. See As No Other shows art appeals to the eye, the hand and the heart." – John Miller Kennedy, Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto and author of groundbreaking book Drawing and the Blind
Re-envision what we assume: My enquiry in partnership with hundreds of blind and sighted people was to question the critics who delight in telling us what we cannot do. With this important book, Partho Bhowmick and his community of blind photographers prompts people the world over to search their aesthetic and visceral compass, and ask themselves who has the right to talk about beauty, the skies, mountains, the song of birds and colours.
– Elisabeth Salzhauer Axel, Founder & President, Art Beyond Sight, New York
All of us see the world through various filters of choice; we glance, we stare, we judge, reflect, and so on. This book has the impact and power to arrest our ability to truly understand what it means to see; not just through culturally diverse aspects, but through exploring variations in vision. In doing so, it changes our understanding.
– Ruth Gould, CEO & Artistic Director, DaDa Fest, Liverpool, UK
An inspiring journey to rethink and discover, together with blind people, through the use of photography, what vision is about. Vision is not passive: With or without feedback on the final result, there is always the act of seeing, selecting and composing the view while interacting with people and objects in the view. A road to awareness and independence.
– Dr. Peter Meijer, Inventor of Seeing With Sound
technology, Netherlands
SEE AS NO OTHER
"For those of us who are sighted, our vision often blinds us. See As No Other achieves something remarkable and important – it makes us see things differently. It opens our eyes. It invites us to question what it really means to see. It engages us in a gradually unfolding and profound conversation that brings new understanding of the myriad ways in which humans visualise the world." – Tiffany Fairey, Co-founder, Photo Voice, London
"In our Era of Images – that of the End of Night – blind photographers play a transcendent role: they inject invisibility back into the arrogant grip of vision and its technical prostheses. Nothingness. Dignity. The very chance for renewal. Darkness is lovers’ refuge, and light is lifeless without imagination. No eye lacks a blind spot, and sightlessness is never without a gaze. See As No Other offer us more than a glimpse, a valuable contribution to the growing international movement of blind photography." – Benjamin Mayer-Foulkes, Founding Director, 17, Institute of Critical Studies, Mexico City
"See As No Other is a brilliant eye opener to learning that we do not really need our sight to see."
– Abhishek Poddar, Founder, Tasveer (The Picture), Bangalore
"The Blind With Camera project endorses the trueness of ‘Nothing is impossible’. To follow a vision, no eyesight is needed. People are really ‘blind’ if they lack imagination and do not have the guts to go beyond their limits. Blind With Camera breaks with boundaries and mental concepts, and shows, on a high artistic altitude, that beauty is invisible and there are miraculous ways to visualise the unseen. And again, blind people open the eyes of people with sight, and powerfully demonstrate how to build bridges to an inclusive world. I am sure the book See As No Other will inspire lots of people across the world to think, act and feel different." – Andreas Heinecke, Founder, Dialogue in the Dark, Germany
20213.jpgParticipant at Blind With Camera workshop. Photo by Partho Bhowmick
SEE AS NO OTHER
Photographs and inspiring stories from
the Blind With Camera project
Partho Bhowmick
Foreword
Douglas McCulloh
Afterword
Dr. Simon Hayhoe
Published by
23536.pngSee As No Other is the culmination of the Blind With Camera project which was set up by Partho Bhowmick in Mumbai, India, with