Jane Hughes

Blind

Blindness is not only to mourn the sun

To puzzle over dayspring fairy tales

Or live with fingertip faith

It is to lean upon the world

Rupert Hodge 1939

Inspicio

The brain hungers for optic stimulation. To be deprived of our vision can elicit fear, rage, profound sorrow and a sense of separation. Paradoxically as the visual world diminishes the visually impaired become objectified, more noticeable and observed, stared at.  I will explore these boundaries and tensions between light and dark, the public and the private self in my piece. 

My maquette represents what would be an immersive experience materialising the personal and unnerving sense of visual loss whilst simultaneously implicating the voyeurs who watch the exhibition via screens. A reversal of fortune as the sighted person becomes the outsider. 

A large shell like structure draws the visitor into the darkness which then spirals away and envelops them in a disorientating array of other sensations and senses; sound, textures and smells.  My piece is intended to be a personal and emotional experience in which the participant will need to negotiate their own attitudes to darkness, to dependency and to losing control.  Disembodied smells and sounds will trigger memories and encourage fundamental questions about identity.  If you cannot see yourself or the world around you, who are you?  It also creates a dissonance in our attitude to the marginalised as we stare in. 

This piece will be accompanied and complemented by a video short, an audio piece and other medium.