What if I suddenly
turn blind?
No one would argue that the most important sense to a designer is visual sensation.
To me, it is comfortable to be surrounded by trendy and eye catching designs.
But what if I lose my sight, how would I communicate with others to express my ideas and designs under very limited conditions?
It would be extremely frustrating and debilitating experience without any doubt.
But because I was curious how I would deal with such stress and limitation, I blind-folded myself and went out to take pictures of the Cranbrook Campus with a help of my kind friend. I could not see the beautiful scenes of the campus.
What if I suddenly turn blind?
Me: Where are we? How is the weather like? I can feel the wind. I cannot see anything.
Camera settings must be all wrong and I am not even sure if I can get a good focus.
Friend: It is lovely weather but snowy. Be careful of the stairs here.
Me: I think the shutter speed is too low so don't think I am getting any nice output.
Friend: Keep trying. There is this wall right in front and a roof with an interesting shape.
Me: Ok, you have a look at this for me, please.
Friend: It is out of focus and shaken but it looks quite interesting.
Me: Really? This is really hard, it is too dark and I can't see!
Compared to those pictures with good focus and clear outlooks that I am used to, there are so much of imperfection and flaws in these hundreds of pictures I took blind-folded.
But certainly, some of the photographs were in my style and these opportunistic surprises are delight to me as there were products of defamiliarization in space, time and place.
New patterns arose from unpredictabilities and this experiment refreshed my way of thinking and analyzing.
Extreme condition - experiment - progress -
finding my own unique visual language
This cycle will continue to challenge me throughout my time here in Cranbrook and furthermore to my professional life.
Photo Collage | Size 48"x 40"
