Auchi Foyer Exhibition - Protectors of Sight by Sophie Gerrard
80% of global blindness can be avoided or cured.
In India, cataract blindness directly affects more than 5 million people. The north eastern state of Bihar is home to over half a million curably blind people.
Predominantly rural, Bihar is one of the poorest states in India and one of the world's worst affected places for cataract blindness. The majority of the rural population of Bihar live in remote, hard to reach locations with poor access to healthcare facilities. Here poverty and blindness go hand in hand; the rural blind are poor because they are blind, and they are blind because they are poor.
The World Health Organisation states that the global eradication of curable blindness is achievable by the year 2020. In Bihar, if this goal is to be achieved, it is a race against time.
The Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital (AJEH), currently perform over 100 cataract operations every day completely free of charge. They manage this from an extremely rural location, without proper roads and without grid electricity. AJEH is currently the largest eye hospital in Bihar; in 2010-11 the hospital team conducted 47,000 operations of which 37,000 were free of cost to the poor. A central focus of AJEH is outreach; patients are brought to the hospital from eye camps conducted in remote village locations.
AJEH's work relies on the help of a group of dedicated volunteers many of whom are former cataract patients. These "Protectors of Sight" seek out the blind and bring them to hospital for surgery.
Curing blindness is one of the most cost effective health interventions known to mankind.
Presented in association with The Savitri Waney Charitable Trust, Protectors of Sight explores the story of cataract blindness in rural India. Shot over several visits to Bihar in 2009 & 2010, this project documents the lives and journeys of individuals and their stories. The images also capture quiet moments and metaphors of barriers, light, shadow and isolation.
Sophie Gerrard is an award winning Scottish documentary photographer who has spent a great deal of time working and photographing in India. Currently based in the UK, her social and environmental photographic features have been published by The Telegraph Saturday Magazine, Guardian Weekend Magazine, The Independent on Sunday Review, Foto8, Portfolio Magazine, Geographical Magazine, The Scotland on Sunday Spectrum Magazine and Greenpeace International.
Sophie's work has received a number of awards including a Jerwood Photography Award and Magenta Award for emerging UK photographers. She has been exhibited internationally, has work included in a number of private collections including the Sir Elton John Collection, and is currently represented by The Photographers' Gallery, London.
Sophie's visit to India in 2009 & 2010 was sponsored by The Savitri Waney Charitable Trust. The Savitri Waney Charitable Trust and Second Sight are both major supporters of this outstanding hospital at which 47,000 cataract operations were carried out last year, 37,000 of which were free of charge to the rural poor of Bihar.
This exhibition coincides with World Sight Day on 13 October 2011.
How you can help:
£20 will subsidise the cost of a cataract operation to restore the sight of one individual at AJEH. To make a donation and for further information please visit www.akhandjyoti.in. For further information on the work of The Savitri Waney Charitable Trust please visit www.savitri.org.uk. For further information on the work of Second Sight please visit www.secondsight.org.uk.
To see more of Sophie Gerrard's work please visit www.sophiegerrard.com.
For any print sales enquires please contact Sophie directly on sophie@sophiegerrard.com or get in touch with Anthony in Print Sales at The Photographers' Gallery on + 44 (0)20 7087 9320.
