Can a blind person take photos?
Seeing is not a requirement for taking photos, as they are not solely born from sight.
A blind person is endowed with the paradox of not being able to see the world, yet also with a sense of mystery and a connection to another reality. The world reaches them through other senses: touch, skin, hearing, and smell. They build images and thoughts from their other senses.
Meet two blind photographers: Gerardo Nigenda and Evgen Bavcar.
Gerardo Nigenda (1967-2010), born in Mexico, blind since age 10.
Gerardo’s photographs capture the everyday moments of his life and work as the head of a library for blind people. Sounds, memory, and his repeated journeys serve as his guides.
He takes photographs with the help of others, who describe the scene to him. Then, he revisits the negative in his mind, constructing and photographing the image mentally. Gerardo Nigenda feels the place, the weather, the smells, and the scenery. He immerses himself in the situation and chooses to express it through his camera. All his senses allow him to understand the world around him. A unique aspect of his work is that he wants it to be experienced by sighted and blind individuals alike. That is why he includes Braille in many of his photographs, adding literary descriptions that explain what the image is and what it represents.
With Nigenda, photography transcends mere imagery, becoming a sensation that emphasizes the emotional experience over the visual one.
You have to wallow in the image.
To build an image, you have to touch, smell, and lick if necessary.
Gerardo Nigenda
Evgen Bavcar (1946), born in Yugoslavia, has also been blind since age 10.
For Bavcar, taking photos is about desiring images and having a visual need. He photographs what he imagines. For him, the most important aspect is what happens in his mind, which he refers to as the third eye; his art is the art of imagination. This third eye does not require light or darkness, as it has the power to see beyond; it is an inner eye in the Platonic sense.
Evgen uses his memory and imagination, puts the camera at the level of his mouth, and photographs the people he hears speaking. He measures distance with his hands; the rest is driven by his desire to take pictures.
His work is based on darkness, not light. That is why he uses very long exposures and maneuverable light sources like flashlights or lanterns.
Bavcar believes that every photographer harbors a desire for images, especially those who are blind. This desire, which is invisible and mental, becomes visible when the camera is triggered, capturing something that cannot be seen with the eyes.
Blind photographers make opening up and understanding the diversity of options possible. To photograph is to feel and imagine. Blind photographers remind us that taking pictures involves a perceptive experience through all the senses, paying attention to details and describing what is perceived. They remind us that expressing and communicating something meaningful is the most important thing.
What, then, is a gaze?
It is perhaps the sum of all dreams, of which the nightmare part is forgotten
when we can look at things differently.
Evgen Bavcar
