Seen Online

Acclaimed photojournalist and portrait photographer Joshua Bratt has taken a series of stunning images of blind and partially sighted individuals.

Following a powerful exhibition at the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), spotlighting the strength, individuality and lived experiences of blind and partially sighted people across the UK, ‘Seen’ can now be viewed online.

Each portrait photograph captured through Joshua’s lens is accompanied by a rich audio description.

Featuring 22 intimate photographic portraits that share interesting stories of people who navigate the world with sight loss ‘Seen’ invites audiences to see the person beyond the sight loss, placing their achievements, passions and inner worlds front and centre.

Joshua found inspiration for the exhibition when he noticed a cane user during his regular commute to Central London.

“Ignorantly, I would just see him as a blind person rather than a man going to work with a job and a story, and I realised that if I was subconsciously labelling somebody and just seeing the disability rather than who they were as a person, then other people were likely doing that too,” said Joshua (pictured above right, with blind artist Clarke Reynolds, aka Mr Dot).

“I came up with the idea of going around the country and finding blind or partially sighted people with interesting backgrounds and stories and taking their picture to help change the perceptions that many people may have about sight loss. 

Joshua connected with RNIB to support him in sourcing subjects for his shoots. Following a call out on its social media channels, Louise Simpson, the first blind person to reach the 100 Club of Marathons, became the first ‘sitter’ in this project.

Momentum built quickly after this, and soon many famous faces joined the body of work, including politician and former Home Secretary, Lord Blunkett, British Archery Champion, Clive Jones, Astronomer, Dr Nicolas Bonne, gamer Ben Breen (pictured above), barrister Jessikah Inaba and model Nan M.  

To view the portraits, visit https://www.rnib.org.uk/campaign-with-us/join-us-this-september-for-the-launch-of-seen/welcome-to-seen/