[Art_beyond_sight_educators] Blind with Camera School of Photography, 7 Blind Women Filmakers, caps, DadaFest 2010, Hereford Photography Festival

[fnugg at online.no]

Hereford Photography Festival

Becky Matthews straddles both the [Open Here] collection and her 
collaboration with the Royal National College for the Blind in Focus 
Here exhibitions and talks. She oversaw visually and touchably readable 
art works and road signs positioned around the venue - a revelation 
about the use of photography for blind and visually impaired people. 
Accomanying it is Sights Unseen, a touring exhibition curated by the 
London charity PhotoVoice, and including works from China, Mexico and 
Israel, which all defy expectations - and fit surprisingly well among 
current trends for blurred, off-centre, unconventionally composed images 
sold for high prices by many successful and sighted photographers.

http://www.theartsdesk.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=2516:hereford-photography-festival-20-museum-gallery-and-courtyard-arts-centre&Itemid=105

excerpt
Innovator, advocate for blind honored

Some of the recreational programs he established for the blind seem 
surprising: a darts club, a choir that produced a holiday CD, a bowling 
team, pottery and kudzu basket-making classes, photography classes, a 
hiking and running club, and a book club. He even started a Visionaries 
in Public Speaking Toastmaster’s Club.

http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2010/nov/21/innovator-advocate-for-blind-honored-ar-555627/


http://www.thesource.com/articles/31730/NEW-ERA-CAP-X-JOHNNY-NUNEZ/178/Buyers-Guide?thesource-prod=nc4467sobh0v5au3016qo05f94
New Era Cap the international headwear and apparel brand, is proud to 
announce its latest collaboration with photographer for the stars, 
Johnny Nunez. The extremely limited edition cap celebrates the 
influential work of the EYE CAN Foundation, a non-profit organization 
that works to improve the lives and opportunities of foster care youth 
and the visually impaired in order to see a better future.

This signature 59FIFTY cap reflects his hip hop roots and illustrates 
his inspiration of teaching visually impaired kids how to overcome their 
handicap and embrace photography. The New Era x Johnny Nunez cap has a 
unique characteristic in that it is inscribed in Braille on the brim 
which quotes “history repeats itself, opportunity does not, be ready.”


excerpt


Blind with Camera at DadaFest 2010

An exhibition by Blind with Camera is showing at the DaDa-Fest 
International, Liverpool until 3 December 2010. DAO talked to Partho 
Bhowmick who set up the project in Mumbai, India, in 2006 after being 
inspired by Evgen Bavcar, an accomplished blind photographer based in Paris.

http://www.disabilityartsonline.org.uk/?location_id=1230


link
Blind with Camera School of Photography

When we think of sight, we think of light and when we think of a blind, 
we think of darkness. The partition between light and darkness is 
natural as the polarity between people with sight and people with 
blindness is deeply rooted in our historical, psychological and 
sociological influences. Our cultural emphasis on eye centeredness for 
interpretation of knowledge, truth and reality make it difficult for us 
to imagine living without sight.

Photography by the visually impaired is in the remotest of our 
imagination and most of us are unaware that they can take pictures and 
also they can be trained in photography like the sighted people.

Blind With Camera School of Photography is a e-school where people with 
visually impairment can learn art of photography, upload pictures taken 
by them, share their point of view and their experience of creation. The 
school also spreads awareness among general public about the challenges 
faced by the visually impaired and their sensory substitution - proving 
that though photography by visually impaired looks difficult, they do it 
just differently.

The e-school aims to create a global community where people with visual 
impairment can learn, enjoy the art of photography and provide a 
platform to showcase their “inner galley” of images to the sighted 
community, and inspire change in the society.


http://blindwithcameraschool.org/

7 Blind Women Filmakers
Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX_McJvB_3w
This extraordinary omnibus film presents seven shorts made by a group of 
blind women who each participated in a yearlong filmmaking workshop 
initiated by director Mohammad Shirvani. Each short opens an intensely 
intimate window on the everyday experience of the blind while the 
collection as a whole raises fascinating questions about the nature of 
cinema itself.

Born in 1973 in Tehran, Mohammad Shirvani made his first short film, THE 
CIRCLE, in 1999. It was among the 7 short films selected by 
International Critics' Week in Cannes that year. Since then he has made 
8 short fiction films and 6 documentary and experimental feature films, 
which have been screened in more than 200 festivals around the world and 
won prestigious awards. His first long feature film will be released in 
2009. At present, he is the president of the independent Iranian Short 
Film Association (ISFA).

Shirvani's daring and unconventional approach to filmmaking is, perhaps, 
most apparent with his latest project. After experiencing a dream in 
which he turned blind he began thinking about how the blind related to 
his medium. Spurred on by these thoughts he began running workshops for 
blind women, introducing them to the film making process.
http://events.kodoom.com/en/ontario-ca/7-blind-female-filmmakers/27005/e/