On Photography by Visually Impaired People
 
When you imagine, You exist!
 
When you imagine, you create, and when you create you exist.  The visual language of stills might sound incongruous in the world of a blind person, but it’s not so. On the contrary it can actually help one connect with their surroundings.

Inspired by the works of a blind French Photographer Evgen Bavcar, Mumbai based Partho Bhowmick started Blind with Camera Project in India in early 2006. Eversince he has been conducting workshops and teaching photography to the visually impaired people. The blind photographers employ various strategies to conjure an image. Some take sound as a cue and treat camera as an extension of their inner self.  Some draw their references from the reservoir of the visuals in their memory.  And some capture the world to bring it closer to their visible spectrum. In the entire process of creating a photograph they engage with the medium at various levels. 

Once a photograph is taken, on the basis of the feedbacks and discussion, the best works of the blind artists are selected and exhibited in the art galleries. Interestingly, these exhibitions are put up with the aid of the tactile patterns and enriching audio descriptions, so that both sighted and non-sighted can enjoy the show.  This Inclusive form of Exhibition has existed across the globe for quite some time now, and is certainly a remarkable move in India.

Bhowmick is a photographer himself, and has documented this marvellous journey of ten years with Blind with Camera project into a book titled ‘See as no other’. The book features 100 photographs taken by the blind photographers associated with the Blind with Camera project, Mumbai and the works of the accomplished blind photographers across the world including Evgen Bavcar. The book is available in print, audio and accessible formats.  DAISY version of the book can be downloaded from  http://www.blindwithcamera.org/books/audio/
Here is to an insightful conversation with the founder of the Blind with Camera Project, Mr. Partho Bhowmick.