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BLIND / SIGHT: Conversations with the Visually InspiredMay 1, 2007 - June 22, 2007
Billy Howard creates stunning portraits of local residents, paired with poignant interviews relating their personal experiences as people who live with visual impairments in a culture that stigmatizes disabilities of all sorts.
Preview the online Slideshow BLIND/SIGHT: Conversations with the Visually Inspired
Reveals Compelling Personal Stories WHO: Atlanta photographer Billy Howard, designer and illustrator Laurie Shock, VSA arts of Georgia and the Center for the Visually Impaired
WHAT: BLIND/SIGHT: Conversations with the Visually Inspired is a unique photographic exhibition that tells the story of 12 people with vision loss through images and sound.
WHEN: Exhibition dates: May 1 ? June 22, 2007
Turner First Thursday Receptions: May 3 and June 7 from 5 - 8 p.m. WHERE: Based in Atlanta, Billy Howard is a commercial and documentary photographer and Laurie Shock is a book designer and illustrator. For BLIND/SIGHT: Conversations with the Visually Inspired, Howard has created a series of 12 portrait photographs showing individuals diverse in age, ethnic background and type of vision loss, from low vision to total blindness. Shock created illustrations based on interviews with the subjects that emulate the actual vision of each person. The images may appear as if seen through thick fog, they may be completely dark, or they may be blurred images in which some portions are recognizable and others are not.
Using images and audio, Howard and Shock challenge common myths about blindness through the compelling personal stories of 12 people who possess inspiring vision of their own. Each set of images includes text and audio interviews with the person in the photo and an audio description of the images. In the interviews, subjects talk about their self-concepts, how they perceive the world visually and how the world perceives them.
"My goal for the exhibition," Howard says, "is to demystify blindness and visual disorders in a way that gives voice to the diversity of seeing. Blindness is not always darkness and darkness is not always lack of vision."
BLIND/SIGHT: Conversations with the Visually Inspired will premier at Arts for All Gallery at VSA arts of Georgia on May 1 and continues on view through June 22, 2007. Join us for public receptions on May 3rd and June 7th from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. both evenings. The receptions, which are part of Turner First Thursdays, are free and open to the public, and complimentary refreshments are offered. Arts for All Gallery, located in the Healey Building in Downtown Atlanta, is the city's only professional gallery devoted to high-quality exhibitions which feature the work of artists with disabilities and themes related to disability. Following the premier exhibition, the show will be installed permanently at the Center for the Visually Impaired.
The exhibition is supported by the City of Atlanta, Office of Cultural Affairs; the LUBO Fund; the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation; Lynda and Ben Greer; and the Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations of the General Assembly, as administered by the Fulton County Arts Council, the GCA-designated Grassroots agency. Funding for the Fulton County Arts Council is provided by the Fulton County Commission under the guidance of the Fulton County Arts Council. In-kind support for the exhibition is provided by Jaehn Clare, Georgia Radio Reading Service, Professional Photo Resources, Shock Design, Showcase, Inc. and Toco Hill Picture Framing.
The mission of the Center for the Visually Impaired is to offer comprehensive services to promote independence with dignity and the preservation of self worth for individuals of all ages who are blind or visually impaired.
CONTACTS:
Ann-Laura Parks, CENTER FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED Press contact: Jaehn ("Jane") Clare
Director of Artistic Development VSA arts of Georgia 57 Forsyth Street, N.W. Suite R-1, The Healey Building Atlanta, GA 30303-2226 404.221.1270 x 202 Jaehn.ClareVSAartsGA.org # # #
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