Question
Hello,
I am a filmmaker living in England, and I am currently working on two films that deal with visual impairment. One of them is a documentary on art perception and blindness, which I am working on with Lynn Cox, an artist who is visually impaired, and another is a fiction piece which presents a kind of Alice-in-Wonderland journey through the perceptive world of visual impairment. So many of the people I have been speaking with have experienced sight loss later in their lives, I was wondering if you could tell me of any issues/experiences/anecdotes that have marked either how similar or dissimilar your perception has proven from a sighted person's in the past. I would appreciate it greatly!
I look forward to hearing from you,
Kind Regards,
Sadie Lawler

Answer
Dear Sadie,

Hope I can be of some help. Here goes.

I took art all throughout my school years, and even in college. I have found it much easier to draw from my mind's eye, than still life. I was stuck taking two still life classes, though, and both times I was graded poorly because my vision altered my work. In one class I painted a girl, in a chair. I painted what I saw...and as I stood back to look at my work, there was all this white space and a small picture of this blurred girl in a chair. It was exactly what I saw, however it was not true to life, and no amount of explaining would make my teacher understand. And a similar thing happened in a college class. We were drawing a skull, with a long sheet and some other random articles on a table...to work on light and dark with charcoal. My work looked very realistic, but again it was not true to life, and because what I saw was not what my instructor saw, I did not get a passing grade. Very frustrating! However, I have come to enjoy seeing the world through my eyes, because of my unique take on reality. And I have since forgiven the two instructors who wronged me because they could not understand "my vision."

The best thing I can think of, that is true and yet fits into the Alice in Wonderland theme is this...When I am looking at a person, who's back is turned towards the light, their entire face is in shadow. It's as if I am seeing a body, with hair, and a black oval where a face should be. It's actually rather creepy.

Again, I hope this helps!

Jeannine