N E W - S I G H T
a piece by Kevin
Miller
This exhibit is an artistic representation of "new sight" - that is, vision as it appears to persons the first time they experience it. All humans undergo a basic learning process in their first few months whereby they learn to perceive lines, shadows, color, shapes, and forms as the parts of objects. From this conceptual leap, normal vision can develop.
But increasingly in the last century, doctors have had the opportunity to restore the vision of congenitally blind people; quite often a simple cataract removal gives a person a full sense of vision almost immediately. These cures are called 'miraculous' by the seeing, but the reality is not so simple: the patient with new sight must learn to view the world around her from square one, and it is an exceedingly difficult task even for the most intelligent and committed person.
The five panels that compose this panorama are meant to illustrate some of the basic problems that come to most persons automatically.
First read about the Concept and Construction
of this project, then click on a panel below to learn more about these aspects of vision.
It is important to note that no simulation can truly convey what a cognitive shock it is to suddenly obtain a sense as overwhelming as vision. The patients who undergo this transition quite often have a sense of sight just as functional as the average person - it is not physical, but mental ability that they lack. Nothing so simple as blurred vision can approximate this disorientation, and we must not assume that the patient finds his or her vision to be a pleasant or helpful thing.