When Karen Tripas ran her finger over the scan for the first time, she immediately recognized the baby's nose as her husband's.
Born with bilateral coloboma, a rare condition also known as cat's eye syndrome, she never expected to experience the same pregnancy milestones as sighted pregnant women. She was excited as she watched the black and white shapes of the growing fetus change. She appears on screen for the first time.
She missed it 10 years ago while pregnant with her first daughter, Phoebe. Questioned by medical staff and social workers about her ability to care for her newborn at the time, Karen received special treatment because she was visually impaired, suffered from depression, and had difficulty bonding with her baby before birth. He said it was.
This time, she was able to “meet” her baby through an ultrasound at 29 weeks, thanks to technology that creates images of the bumps that give her a tactile feel of her baby wriggling inside her womb. Having this and being able to hear her heartbeat also helped her feel more connected to her, she says.
Karen's second daughter Ruby is now eight weeks old, but her scan results are pending at her home in Surrey.
“The first thing I noticed was her nose,” she says. “She has my husband's nose. She could feel the top of her head, her nose, the hollows of her eyes…I will always cherish that.
“Both of my babies were IVF and it took a long time to get there. It's all emotional anyway, but I'm just as hopeful as everyone else that I get to meet them.” .I hope all the visually impaired women who have had babies are happy.''I wish I could have had that opportunity.''
“I don't expect the NHS to roll this out, but I think a lot of people would like it, even if they had to pay a minimal fee.The concept of taking family photos from now on I think that's great.'' That would be pretty cool. ”
According to the NHS, more than two million people live with a visual impairment in the UK, with around 340,000 people registered as blind or partially sighted.
The ruby scanned by Karen is featured as part of a new exhibition, World Unseen, created by camera company Canon and launched in partnership with the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB). “Photo exhibition that you don't need to see.''
Designed entirely with the experiences of blind and partially sighted people in mind, the exhibition features a series of photographs taken by world-renowned photographers, some of whom are blind, and includes elevated prints. , accompanied by audio descriptions, soundscapes, and Braille.
For sighted people, traditional images are obscured in a variety of ways to convey different types of visual impairment, from glaucoma to diabetic retinopathy. It is an insight into the difficulties faced by blind and partially sighted people, a challenge to see life through their lenses, and a reminder of the vision that sighted people rely on and take for granted every day. There are also things.
The launch event will also stimulate the senses with canapés. While your fish and chip snack is served, you'll want to don headphones that play ocean sounds and a scented spray that fills the air with salt and vinegar.
Among the photographers whose work is featured is Essex-born Ian Treherne, who is best known as a blind photographer. Born with a disease called RP Type 2 Usher Syndrome, he has been deaf since birth and has lost almost 95% of his vision over the years.
“I hid my blindness for years,” he says. “I've been a sighted person for a long time. When I was a child, disability was a very, very awkward and difficult subject. Only my closest friends knew about it. Then, in my 30s, So, in a sense, I “came out”. ”
Always creative, Ian says photography allowed him to capture moments when he was about to lose his sight. But there was also a sense of rebelliousness behind his desire to get behind the camera.
“I knew that some people would be traumatized and some people would have brain damage if they went blind while taking pictures,” he says. “I knew it would raise some questions.”
So he taught himself, practicing with a camera and researching on the internet. “In my condition, I probably have to work 10 to 20 times as hard as a fully sighted person,” he says.
“Everything is a learning curve. I think that's really the biggest boundary in society: changing your mindset, adjusting your mindset. I think sometimes people are just afraid to ask questions. .”
The World Unseen exhibition features Brazilian photojournalist Sebastian Salgado, Nigerian photojournalist Yagazi Emezi, sports photographer Samo Vidic, fashion photographer Heidi Rondak, and Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Muhamed Muheisen. The works of world-famous photographers and Canon ambassadors from around the world are on display.
Photos from Kenya Last male northern white rhinoIt also features photographs taken by award-winning South African photojournalist Brent Stirton. When you run your finger over the pulled-up image, you can feel the roughness and every groove of the animal's skin.
Mark Aspland's photo of Lioness Chloe Kelly scoring the winning goal in the Euro 2022 final at Wembley is also on display, with audio commentary to relive the moment of victory.
But Ruby, of course, is the star of the show, cradled by her mother in front of the scan. “It's funny to think that people would feel a photo of Ruby, but I like the idea that quite a few visually impaired people would feel what a scanned photo is like. I didn't know what to expect,” Karen says.
“Having this memory, this opportunity to 'see', or rather feel, my child before he was born was amazing. And I can keep a record of it so I can show it to Ruby when she's older. That’s very special.”
'World Unseen' exhibition opens at Somerset House in central London and runs over the weekend
