“The kindest idea” – World Unseen, a year on

When you’re in the midst of something which is all-enveloping and absorbing, it can be hard to fully comprehend its scale. This has certainly been the case with World Unseen. We wanted to use our print technology to show how the visual arts can be made more accessible for blind and partially sighted people, but through relationships forged with dozens of charities, partners, photographers and friends, World Unseen became a mission and passion for everyone involved.

A year on from its launch at Somerset House in London, we have a clearer understanding of its impact. Not just in the numbers ­– 33 exhibitions across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, welcoming many thousands of visitors in person and reaching millions more online – but in ways which are less tangible, more ‘in the moment’ and unrelentingly powerful, week after week, month after month. The fundamentals of World Unseen have been largely consistent across every country, using our elevated print technology to make images accessible to all, but no two exhibitions have truly been the same. Each has been gently adapted to suit its visitors, culture and national circumstances.

Approaching organisations and charities across EMEA has been key. They guided our hands as we designed every aspect. “There were so many elements to understand and combine – our elevated print, of course, but also a rich audio experience, braille descriptions, sight simulations [sighted visitors could experience images through the lens of different kinds of sight loss], navigating around the exhibition – and our website – and how our sighted guides supported visitors,” explains Pete Morris, Brand & Sponsorship Senior Manager for Canon Europe. “Our charity partners have taught us so much and we couldn’t have done this without them.”

These remarkable charities also connected us to local sight loss communities in each country, ensuring that as many people as possible had the opportunity to lay their hands on what one visitor described as “something sighted people take for granted”. In welcoming the Swedish Association of the Deaf-Blind to the famous Fotografiska Gallery in Stockholm, Elif Bilyar and her team from Canon Sweden were deeply moved by the relationship between deaf-blind visitors and their guides as they examined every image hand-in-hand, using a form of sign language which relies on touch. “It took a lot of energy for the guides to communicate everything they saw and heard” she explains. “But they explored every one of the images with such enthusiasm and every story was shared through the touching of hands. It filled us with gratitude.”

7000 kilometres away, our team in Kenya opened their doors on the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities, and at the same time created a second exhibition by holding photography classes for the blind and partially sighted every day and displaying this work too. The atmosphere was electric at Kenya National Library Services and guests arrived in a celebratory mood, eager to learn and enjoy the photographic work of national treasures Yagazie Emezi, Paras Chandaria and Peter Ndungu for the first time. As an incredible finale, the students surprised everyone by composing and performing a song of thanks in Swahili.

World Unseen continues in Nairobi to this day, as all artworks were donated to our charity partner, Kenya Society for the Blind. It also carries on in the actions of those involved. “One of our trainers has expanded his business to make sure that there are roles available for more people with disabilities,” shares Munther Ayache of Canon North Africa. “I believe that World Unseen has changed mindsets and lives.”

A country at war is perhaps the last place you might expect World Unseen to have reached, but our Ukrainian colleagues’ spirit of Kyosei and desire to champion inclusivity, unity and accessibility has been a source of inspiration to us all. Held at Lviv’s ‘Museum in the Dark’, all tours are usually conducted in total darkness by blind guides, but for this exhibition the lights stayed on to allow sighted visitors to understand the different experiences of sight loss. However, Lviv had seen air strikes as recently as November and, a month on, visitors were reassured that, as the exhibition was being held in a basement gallery, it could also act as a temporary shelter, if necessary. The team tailored their exhibition to reflect this ongoing reality, adding two images from Canon Ambassador, Marta Sirko, of Ukrainians injured during the war. One shows a young soldier who had lost a leg, depicted as a Greek sculpture.

These are just a handful of the dozens of stories we could have told. “I spoke to so many people from the sight loss community who told me they only visited exhibitions with their families, but everything was either behind glass or they required others to tell them what they were seeing. They felt frustrated, isolated and let down,” Pete explains. “We have delivered something which is a truly universal design that we would love to be the mainstream, not just where we have held our exhibitions, but everywhere.”

In twelve short months World Unseen has travelled thousands of kilometres and taken hundreds of colleagues, charities, print service providers and supporters to realise. In the beginning, it was just a spark of an idea to use our Arizona printers and PRISMAelevate XL technology to create an experience of art for those who had least access to it. And we believe we have done just that.

But what we didn’t anticipate was that World Unseen would come to represent something else too. Something more.

It became a way for us and so many of our sighted visitors, partners and colleagues to collectively put ourselves in the shoes of others and learn what it means to live with sight loss. Together we have met the most incredible and inspiring people, taking what they have shared and taught us into our hearts. And, most importantly, it has made advocates of us all, with a desire to build accessibility into the way we communicate now and long into the future.

Discover the stories of World Unseen.