Rosita Mckenzie is a Blind Contemporary Photographer.
Based in Edinburgh Scotland, working across Abstract and Documentary Photography. She is also a Disability Equality Educator, using her art to challenge traditional boundaries in photography and the way we experience visual art.
rositamckenzie@icloud.com
"Blind photographers possess the clearest vision on the planet...Cultures around the globe have long believed that there is a seeing beyond sight. Blind Photographers chart connections between two worlds: outward sight versus vision with the inner eye" - Douglas McCulloch
STATEMENT
What does being a photographer mean to me? I can only explain it in this way…
As someone with no physical sight, my tangible world and imagination could be limited to only the things I could hear, smell, taste and touch but the introduction of a camera into my life, has added several extra dimensions to my existence. It has enabled me to Moore fully appreciate the physical world but it has also established a meeting point whereby I am able to share my inner life and experiences with people with sight. The world is full of images. Some very vibrant, some still and tranquil but seldom are these images totally silent. The sound of every movement is different. The sound of every environment is different, likewise people, objects and things of nature. The sound and touch of the weather is a prime example and is something everyone experiences. I use these, along with other people’s verbal descriptions, to build up a vast store of memories and mental pictures. In this way, I simultaneously experience and document my life and engage with the unseen world around me. And in return, present my personal explanation and interpretation to other people who would otherwise have no clear idea of a blind woman’s reality. It provides opportunities to exchange ideas and different ways of thinking and encourages a team working approach to events and suggests solutions to problems that in other circumstances, cited or non-sighted people might find difficult to manage.
BIOGRAPHY
My photographic career was launched in the summer of 2006 as a totally blind photographer, I’m self-taught and self-directed and from the outset, have been guided by my personal interests and life experience and by my professional photographer friends who have given generously of their knowledge and technical skill. This unconventional approach and use of highly experimental methods, has led to The creation of a wide range of original artwork that focuses on whatever inspires me at any given time. Over the years, I have collaborated with many highly talented artists and consequently, my work has been interpreted into different accessible art forms since The very first days of my photographic practice. These include audio descriptions, ceramic and sculptural pieces, Tactile drawings and 3-D prints. My images have been exhibited in many solo and in group shows across Europe and throughout the world including North America, Russia and South Korea. The principal aim of my photography is to encourage debate. To explore and exchange ideas and ways of working and to question what it really means to be a sentient being, Within the dual settings of our shared humanity and our truly remarkable world.
Most people have experienced immense changes in their lives due to the covid pandemic. The impact on my work was Extreme. At a stroke, I lost my sighted colleagues and then lockdown and travel restrictions, robbed me of opportunities to go further afield and create more interesting photographs. These conditions hugely impacted on my self-confidence as an image creator and for over two years I was unable to pick up a camera and start photographing again.
However, and quite unexpectedly, I realise now that the time was not wasted and it brought about a transformation. Starting with The loss of important people in my life and then moving home. Losing loved ones is always painful and difficult but for me, as a blind person, moving home has also been an emotional and psychological challenge. A new physical location requires a lot of adjustment and the building up of mental mapping skills to find my way around which is accompanied with, for some time at least, a loss of personal control over my environment. Now, however, eight months later, Jim and I have the house the way we want it and I am ready to move on.
As you can imagine, managing my conventional, digital camera without sighted assistance can be very problematic. So I am now experimenting with my iPhone camera which has some interesting built-in aids for a blind person. Voice-over software will tell me for instance whether I’m holding the camera level or whether there are one or more faces in the frame. It will also detect and read text that has been caught in the image as part of a Street scene, a street name or billboard advertisement or a menu in a restaurant scene. This is an extremely important feature of the camera because having no access to this kind of written information under other circumstances constitutes one of the greatest barriers to independent living for blind people. Added to this, the software provides brief descriptions of the photographs, The time and date they were taken and even the global location which means once I have The images I want clearly labelled, I can then return to them later and share them easily. Of course, I still need some sighted assistance to help me choose the images but this doesn’t necessarily have to be a professional person. The quality of the images, too, might not be as good but at least using my iPhone camera means I can still practice my photography.