Rainbows of Chaos: A Special Feature on the Arts

"Everything vanishes around me, and works are born as if out of the void. Ripe, graphic fruits fall off. My hand has become the obedient instrument of a remote will."
-- Paul Klee

"The artist must create a spark before he can make a fire and before art is born, the artist must be ready to be consumed by the fire of his own creation."
-- Auguste Rodin

"We live in a rainbow of chaos."
-- Paul Cezanne


PERCEPTIONS OF LIGHT

"My idea of light is how I feel things in the darkness."
-- Bob Lock, deafblind resident at Bob Rumball Centre for the Deaf

Is light necessarily perceived by the sense of sight? Perceptions of Light, by photographer Natalie Schonfeld, is a multimedia documentary about the everyday reality of people who are deafblind. The body of work explores the existing channels of communication between each other and the outside world. The images of individuals using intervenors, immersing themselves in a lake, reading a Braille book, looking out a window, curling up on a bed -- ordinary moments for people who are deafblind -- are immensely intimate, emotional and beautiful as captured by Schonfeld.

Schonfeld began the project in 1997 as part of her thesis work while attending the Image Arts School at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario. At that time, she was interested in learning about the Deaf culture. In particular, she recognized the parallels between sign language and photography as a means of visual expression. She began working at Toronto’s Bob Rumball Centre for the Deaf, and came to know the deafblind senior residents.

"What has captivated me since that first meeting is their incredible strength, despite their constant struggle in a society that doesn’t always meet their needs," says Schonfeld. "They are a celebration of life, even in the hardest moments."

Of Perceptions of Light, Schonfeld says that the exhibition "is not only about deafblindness, or disabilities, or photography, or art... it is about challenging people’s perceptions of themselves and one another, and inspiring action through different approaches to education. It is about bringing back sensitivity into people’s lives; it is about re-connecting with our human selves -- and transcending the boundaries imposed by our bodies, our nationalities and our religious differences."

Schonfeld’s photographic eye travels to those individuals at the periphery, to that point at which the human senses take a step back to rearrange themselves. Chaos and struggle are the starting point in what becomes a rite of passage in the quest for liberation of the spirit.

As part of the fifth annual Toronto Photography Festival, "CONTACT 2001" in Toronto, Perceptions of Light will be on exhibition at the Nathan Shiff Gallery in Toronto until June 2, 2001. It will also be exhibited in August, 2003, at the World Conference of Deafblindness in Mississauga, Ontario.

Schonfeld is encouraged by the support Perceptions of Light is already gathering from the community. In addition to very positive feedback from the deafblind community, the Canadian Abilities Foundation has agreed to accept donations on behalf of this initiative. The Image Arts Program at Ryerson University is also delighted to support this project, as it involves a new media approach to social documentary, a powerful tool for creating social awareness. For more information, send e-mail to natalie@documentos-humanos.com. Other examples of Schonfeld’s work can be found at www.documentos-humanos.com.