Blind Visionaries, an immersive multimedia film and music performance created by composer and pianist Daniel Kelly in collaboration with The Seeing with Photography Collective, a group of blind and visually impaired photographers at the Center for the Blind in Manhattan, will be presented at William Paterson University in Wayne on Wednesday, April 12, 2023, in the Shea Center for Performing Arts on campus.
The event, in recognition of April as Autism Awareness Month and Minority Health and Health Disparities Month, begins at 7 p.m. It is presented as part of the University’s Arts Accessibility Project, funded by a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Grants for Arts Project Award for a collaborative project between the Department of Music, University Galleries, and University Performing Arts in support of broader access to the arts for special needs populations.
Daniel Kelly created Blind Visionaries because of his passion for the stunning images made by the blind and visually impaired photographers of The Seeing with Photography Collective at the Center for the Blind in Manhattan led by the Collective’s director, Mark Andres. Inspired by the photos and the process of “light painting” used to create them, Kelly selected 200 photos from several thousand photos created by the Collective over four decades and created 10 different films that are projected onto the video screen during the performance. Viewers are immersed into the visual world of The Seeing with Photography Collective as the film delves into each photo, weaving, zooming in and out, and across different parts of each image to reveal the rich visual language and surreal world created by these photographers.
Audio interviews with the photographers who created the images are featured throughout the performance. Audience members hear the photographers describe, in their own words, their personal experience of losing their sight and how they draw meaning from the process of creating photos which have been exhibited in galleries throughout the world. Kelly also composed the music which is performed by his trio as part of the event.
Each performance includes a participatory segment where patrons are chosen to come on stage to create a photo with members of The Seeing with Photography Collective while the trio continues to play. The images are created on digital cameras, and the newly made photos are projected onto the video screen later in the performance.
The Seeing with Photography Collective is a group of visually impaired, sighted, and totally blind photographers. They use a dynamic process called “light painting” which transports the viewer into their unique dream world of surreal portraits. The visually impaired or blind photographers work with a sighted assistant to create an image based on a vision in their mind’s eye. The results are riveting, dramatic images that have helped these artists to heal through their work. Coming from diverse backgrounds and life experiences, they share an awareness of sight loss, along with the determination to dialogue and integrate their images into a more universal context. The Collective’s work has been exhibited worldwide and can be seen in the book Shooting Blind published by Aperture.
In conjunction with the performance, works by The Seeing with Photography Collective are on view in the Shea Center Lobby through April 12; hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tickets for Blind Visionaries are $15 for general admission; admission is free for William Paterson University students, employees, and alumni. The event will feature audio description and large print program notes will be available upon request. For information or tickets, call the Shea Center Box Office at 973.720.2371 or visit wp-presents.org.
William Paterson University
300 Pompton Road
Wayne, New Jersey 07470
973-720-2000
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