Seeing Beyond Sight
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I wanted to share the excellent work of a friend and fellow Social Venture Network member (and hopefully future NextNower). I know it’s late notice for tonight, but there’s a second event for April 5 in SF (see below), and I thought this might appeal both to those whose work involves perception (like mine), and our artists (and aren’t we all)?
Get a copy of the book & see complete event details at www.seeingbeyondsight.org
EXHIBIT RECEPTION & BOOK PARTY (free)
Next Thursday, March 29 @ 6:00PM — SF Camerawork (cash bar)
657 Mission St. (2nd Fl) btw 2nd & 3rd Sts. | 415.512.2020 | BART: Market-Montgomery St
Author Tony Deifell will speak about the book and its relationship to art, leadership and perception. Writer Kathy Knox, who is blind, will offer reflections about the book and her experience recently taking up the camera. See images not included in the book and screen video-clips of scenes from upcoming film by Bryan Donnell. (Exhibit runs through May 12.)
BOOK EVENT & CONVERSATION (free)
Thursday, April 5 @ 7:00PM — Cody’s Books downtown SF
2 Stockton St, across from Apple Store | BART: Market-Powell St
A book signing & conversation with visual artist and social entrepreneur Tony Deifell. Writer and recent photographer, Kathy Knox, will offer reflections about the book. Ms. Knox serves on the Board of Directors of Lighthouse for the Blind.
About the book —
SEEING BEYOND SIGHT: PHOTOGRAPHS BY BLIND TEENAGERS (Chronicle Books)
a new book by Tony Deifell w/ a foreword by Robert Coles
Unusual as the idea may seem at first, putting cameras in the hands of visually-impaired children proved to be extremely fruitful — both for the photographers, who found an astonishing way to express themselves, and for the viewers of their images, who get a window into a world they wouldn’t normally see. For example, Tameka snuck pictures of people who were naked and claimed that it was because she couldn’t see. Even before you know that these pictures were taken by blind teenagers, they are striking in their use of light and composition, and haunting in their chiaroscuro intensity. Accompanying the images are the students’ own words and captions — in which we see how much the taking of pictures came to mean to them and how the creative process works in ways rarely experienced. With its ambitious, seemingly paradoxical premise, SEEING BEYOND SIGHT challenges our definitions of art, vision, and perception and what it really means to see.
As a photographer, Tony Deifell had always feared losing his sight, and wondered, “If I were blind, could I still make photographs?” He decided to find out. What began as an experimental after-school photography club grew into a five-year project that impacted Deifell as much or more than his students. Compiled into five chapters — distortion, refraction reflection, transparence and illuminance — SEEING BEYOND SIGHT is about seeing in the broadest sense. The photographs and stories tell of danger, fear, trust, race and beauty found in all our lives. A rare book of visual art, SEEING BEYOND SIGHT speaks with inspirational power, not only to the visually impaired community at large, but also to anyone who has ever considered what it means to see and perceive the world.
For more information about the book: www.seeingbeyondsight.org
A project supported by Just Think.
