The Unseen Beauty: No eyes, no problem
Fashion, Art, and Design topics are now trending on social media. Why not? People at home can now create artistic concepts in different ways they can. Dance moves. Food hacks. ASMR effects. A tutorial video. Everyone can express their creativity, spark a movement and share their stories online as a content creator. I, too, tried showcasing my kind of art online. I crave everything about oats and I’m an advocate of mindful eating habits. I started taking snaps of my oat recipe, uploading it on Tiktok and even created a personal blog site on Instagram. It was a fun experience to see your food creation and photo snaps right in front of your eyes.
But it makes me wonder. What if I’m not gifted to see — is creating art not for me? Is design solely for those capable of seeing it? Can I not make a great design because I don’t see my art?
These 3 questions have resonated and struck me from within. In the Philippines, an estimate of about 2 million Filipinos are blind. If you’re blind — your actions might be limited. You need traditional aided tools such as Braille systems to help you get through on day-to-day tasks. And whether you like it or not, society will have this stereotype that you can’t do what a normal person does. This can even be more challenging if you plan to create your design to be a content creator, a visual designer or even if you aspire to be an art director.
But given 21st century evolving trends in design and the rise of technology that aims to simplify and connect the missing dots and skills of a person, visually impaired people can change the name of the game. And I truly believe they deserve a spotlight online.
Let’s dive into Lucy Edwards’ content as a Tiktok creator. She educates her fans on how a blind person can be at their best beautiful and do great things for themselves and others.
Bianca Von Stemple, a visually impaired designer whose creations were featured in London Fashion week, has also been making waves in the Design industry. Now 27 years old, she used magnification software and integrated braille into her statement collection. She chooses textured fabrics based on how it feels. She draws her inspirations from Hellen Keller, a known blind and deaf writer. Bianca’s favorite quote from Hellen was “the only thing worse than blindness is having sight but not vision.”
What is Lucy and Bianca’s vision? They are advocates of empowerment and open design initiatives for everyone. They both strive to show off the unseen beauty in creating a great and impactful design despite their lack of sight.
They are both content creators who shows art and science go together. They redefine beauty in their own terms. Content creation is an art because you make do with who you are right now and with what you have. You don’t limit yourself; you move forward.
It is also a science because it takes willpower, courage and action to show up your truest self online. You experiment a lot when you create your own kind of art. And it’s a process you’ll fall in love with as you grow with time.
Can a blind person be a content creator? Definitely yes.
Can a visually impaired community thrive as fashion designers, art makers or next generation of influencers?
Yes, they are.
The unseen beauty of their work shines through beyond our screens.
