From award-winning visually impaired director Rodney Evans, Vision Portraits brings together a diverse cross-section of artists, all of whom struggle in their own ways to remain creative, positive, and productive despite their uphill battles with some degree of sight loss.
Evans himself has a rare disorder known as retinitis pigmentosa, which basically means he’s going blind by slow degrees: he’s saddled with the uncertainty of never knowing when his optical deterioration will get to the point where he can no longer work. We witness his daily herculean efforts not only to navigate his way around bustling NYC but also his fight to stay active as a filmmaker despite being visually impaired in this most visual of creative occupations.
Others featured in the film include John Dugdale, a fashion photographer who suffered a debilitating stroke that left him virtually blind and paralyzed on one side of his body. We also meet Kayla Hamilton, a “movement artist” whose battle is with a rare form of arthritis of the eye, and a visually impaired writer/teacher named Ryan Knighton. Knighton discovered his own creative voice through finding humor in his semi-successful attempts at blending seamlessly into the everyday world despite his handicap.
Although part of the film’s modus operandi is obviously to explore the many different creative ways visual artists deal with their visual limitations, there’s a bolder theoretical thread that runs throughout about actually embracing one’s impairments and turning that perceived handicap into a bona fide creative advantage in one’s work. This eye-opening documentary is recommended for unique library programs about disability or film programming that wants to spotlight members of the LGBTQ community who also have disabilities.