Blind Photography Project

Photography by the visually impaired is in the remotest of our imagination as most of us are unaware that they can also see, they just do it differently! I can show blind people how to use a camera, they can show us how to see. With the Blind Photography Project we have found different ways of understanding the space and breaking people’s perception of the blind (as non-visual).

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As an architect and photographer my visual perception and orientation in the city depends absolutely on what I see. But how is the city for someone who cannot see? I started asking myself how space influences our behavior and if the image of the city is actually so important. Photography became a medium to establish contact with the blind community of Vienna, to discover the city together, to understand different perceptions of space. Being visual is not about what you (can actually) see but what you perceive.

Being visual is not about what you see, but what you perceive.

After getting in contact with Verein Blickkontakt I found 3 participants: Mathias, Angela and Aaron. So far: Mathias has done 268 photos in 3 sessions. Angela 86 in 3 sessions. Aaron 13 in 1 session. A total of 367 photos in an approximate distance of 52km in the city of Vienna. So how is the city for them? What did they photograph, what were their motivations? Photography is an input, interesting yes, but not the final conclusion. The most interesting aspect in this project has been the exchange, how we found a way to connect our inner views and how we expanded our knowledge of the city together.

Time

Summer 2016

Location

Vienna

Team

Alejandra Loreto

in collaboration with Aaron Banovics

Angela Engel

Mathias Schmuckerschlag

Links

www.alejandraloreto.com/bpp/