"Real life... has surface noise."
John Peel
Visual Impairment and Creativity.
As a visually impaired digital and photo-based artist, my practice centres on the lived experiences of sight loss, personal identity and memory. Having a visual impairment has always been a part of my life; I was born blind in one eye and have a range of conditions in the other. Attempting to hold an iPhone (my preferred camera) and a pocket magnifier simultaneously to take and collect images is an ongoing technical challenge and physically uncomfortable process.
Photography, digital photographic art and the creative process are for me a cathartic and essential practice that enables me to challenge and address the limitations imposed by my conditions.
Over the last 14 years I have exhibited work in solo and group shows in California, Glasgow, London, Perth and West Dunbartonshire. In 2014/15 my ‘Seeing The Unseen’ exhibition was the first of its kind in Scotland to have been produced entirely using an iPhone and iPad.
Recently I was a Community Curator working at The Kelvin Hall in Glasgow with the RNIB and the Learning and Access Team at Glasgow Museums. Using objects sourced from the vast archives to create an exhibition display case of 'Things We Used To Use'.
In 2024/25 ’Shadowplay’ a digital short film about my work, produced by Street Level Photoworks, toured the Highlands and Islands via the Screen Machine Mobile Cinema. I have devised and delivered many mobile photography and digital art workshops, including three for the Robert Mapplethorpe TATE Artists Rooms touring exhibition.
I was featured in Blind Ambition, a BBC Arts documentary about sight loss and creativity. I was subsequently commissioned to produce a number of works for its accompanying exhibition. I was shortlisted for a Lord Provost’s Award for Outstanding Artwork, was a winner and received honourable mentions in the Digital Mobile Art and Creativity Summit in Palo Alto and the first International Mobiography Awards.