It is usually an understatement to say that the visual sense is one of the most important senses which have been given to us which helps shape our reality of our world. I once attended a lecture where the speaker asked the audience a profound question, ‘’ I want everyone to close their eyes... now imagine if you could never open them again ‘’. This type of thought is rarely analysed but once delved into allows us to appreciate the importance of the visual sense and its impact on the perception of reality in which we live.

Now imagine having some type of visual problem. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of ways our visual sense can be damaged and I hope most of you reading this are lucky to be blessed with full visual function. The reason why I mention this is that art and vision go hand in hand. The world in which we see from our eyes is unique to us all, I cannot look through your eyes and nor you mine. Therefore the perception of art is also unique to the individual viewer. I have selected a small part of my art representing the small window of the world which we see. I have then created different ways in which this can be affected by having various eye conditions/ diseases. This represents the fact that as we all look at the same object we will all be seeing different things. The images are just a basic representation but please click on the relevant images to get more detail

ARMD

DIABETIC RETINOPATHY

GLAUCOMA AND RETINITIS PIGMENTOSA

PIE IN SKY

HOMONYMOUS HEMIONOPIA

Imagine being blind, seeing black for a moment, how would u continue to read this, how would u prepare your tea/ coffee, how would u drive, go to the bathroom, prepare food and how all of this would affect the people around you i.e. family and friends. A lot of questions are brought up with this type of question not including changes to identity, perception of self, spirituality and mental health.

The reality is that the visual sense is a gift to be cherished. Here in the western world we are very lucky to have excellent access to Optometrists/ Opticians who are present in every high street in their numbers. The access to routine eye tests should be seen as a privilege to us all as routine eye tests can usually help detect early eye diseases which may have no symptoms to begin with thus maintaining our sight and lifestyle.

However in the developing world, access to eye care is usually a very rare event and this lack of eye care is leading to blindness, which could have been prevented. The main conditions in the west such as cataracts, glaucoma, and diabetes can be easily treated and managed with advice and medications. This unfortunately is not the case in the developing world in these conditions usually lead to blindness. I have seen this first hand on Vision Aid Charity projects to Zambia and Ethiopia and it make us fully appreciate how lucky we are in the west. The charity aims to improve the lives of people through giving glasses and where appropriate refer to a charity related eye doctor for further consultation. The impact of a pair of spectacles cannot be down played as I have seen many children who can now see the classroom board for the first time, teachers who can now read to teach to the class, tailor’s who can start working again with close work glasses to help feed the family as well as many others who have benefited. Therefore I have decided to donate 5% of all profits from the sales of my art to this charity. I will aim to present it yearly and this will be the dedicated charity until January 2012. Please find below the link to the charity website

http://www.vao.org.uk/