• Protectors of Sight Sophie Gerrard – Artists’ statement In the eastern Indian state of Bihar there are around 1 million curably blind people. It is one of the worst affected places in the world for cataract blindness. Poor infrastructure, poverty and illiteracy levels compound the...

Protectors of Sight

Sophie Gerrard – Artists’ statement

In the eastern Indian state of Bihar there are around 1 million curably blind people. It is one of the worst affected places in the world for cataract blindness. Poor infrastructure, poverty and illiteracy levels compound the problem faced by many. The World Health Organisation is working towards the global eradicating of curable blindness by 2020. If this goal is to be achieved in Bihar it is a race against time.
Blindness is isolating, individuals are gradually removed from daily life and are unable to contribute. The condition is devastating both psychologically and economically, individuals can not work or provide an income, they are unable to look after the children and many can not even go to the bathroom unaccompanied.
If a person can not earn they become a burden to their family. In Bihar, 80% of the population live in isolated rural areas on less than 50p per day. Over 50% of children in the state are malnourished. Lost earnings in Bihar will determine if a family will eat or not that day.
In 2009 I was commissioned by The Savitri Trust to document the story of blindness in India’s worst affected state, Bihar. I spent time in villages and with villagers in their homes. In Bihar, rural infrastructure is often so bad that those affected by blindness are unable, both logistically and financially, to travel to hospital. I went on outreach camps and accompanied the hospital staff as they carried out extensive rural screening in order to identify the hundreds affected by cataract blindness. The time I spent with doctors, individuals, villagers and patients enabled me to explore the way blindness impacts the lives of so many in this part of India.
Over the course of 2 years and several visits to Bihar, I found that photographing became my diary as I worked and traveled in the rural landscape. I responded to photographing those without sight and living in unfamiliar darkness, by making images of wide open spaces and long empty views. I found myself drawn to changes in light and dark and to shadows and obscured views.
This project presents not simply a social document or an objective narrative, but also an intimate, metaphorical and reflective response to cataract blindness in rural Bihar. Protectors of Sight explores themes of separation, isolation and vulnerability and also the relationships between people and dignity, patience and hope. Barriers of light and dark open out into empty landscapes and small everyday possessions become important detailed expressions of control and familiarity.
“The more we do, the more there is to be done.” Prasad Gupta explains at his house in Siran district, rural Bihar. A distinguished and respected man from rural Bihar, Gupta received cataract surgery at AJEH 3 years ago. Since then, he has volunteered as an advocate for the hospital, a ‘Protector of Sight’ he has taken over 1000 people for free cataract surgery.
AJEH currently operate on over 100 blind people every day completely free of charge. They do this from a location with no electricity, no roads and no help from large international NGOs.
The World Health Organisation describes curing blindness as one of the most cost effective health interventions known.