Photographers who made a vision statement with their snaps

With a camera in one’s hand, everyone can become a photographer, but when the pictures are taken by people with no sight and their subjects are also blind, the outcome is bound to be extraordinary. That is precisely the outcome of an exhibition of 30 photographs taken in Mumbai and Bengaluru, titled aptly The Blind View, at Garuda Mall.

The two-day exhibition - jointly put up by Sightsavers, a charity working towards preventing blindness, and Beyond Sight Foundation for the visually impaired photography enthusiasts, during the ongoing World Sight Day week - aims to bring about awareness among people and give them a glimpse of the lives of blind persons, how they perform their daily chores and how they use assisted technology to their advantage at work.

Says Amal Gupta, senior manager, brand and communications, Sightsavers, “The idea is to let people know that blindness is just an imperfection like any other imperfections which are present in all of us. We have to provide the blind an enabling environment for equal opportunities - be it at work or in society. There has to be social inclusion for these people with visual impairment”.

Out of the 30 photographs on display on varying themes, 20 have been taken in the city by the photographers after they underwent a three-day training workshop in the city.
One of the pictures titled, Blind Date, taken in Cubbon Park by Naresh Babu (born blind), has friends - Veeranna Karanna (also born blind) and Melip Dawa Sangma (who developed blindness later in life) - enjoying the greenery in Cubbon Park.  Says Partho Bhowmick, founder of Beyond Sight Foundation, who has been teaching nuances of photography to visually impaired, “The three-day workshop was held last month and the photographers used point and shoot cameras under skilled supervision. The photographers clicked the perfect pictures by often touching their subjects, talking to them, listening to the sounds to shoot and the brilliant results are here on display for everyone to see,” he said.

Every photograph on display has a footnote explaining the theme of the picture and the never-say-die spirit of the person in the picture.

A picture clicked by Melip Dawa Sangma, titled ‘Blind tele-caller’ shows Veeranna - who works as a tele caller - with his quote, “I have lost my sight does not mean that I have lost my livelihood”. From Bengaluru, the exhibition will move to New Delhi, where it will be showcased at British Council on Dec 1 and 2. The exhibition is on till October 11 at Garuda Mall, Magrath Road.