How the blind perceive beauty

This topic was inspired by another thread, which can be found right here.

If you follow the link, you'll find a video where a blind man describes his analysis of various things: the sky, heights, the Grand Canyon, beaches, etc.

What struck me, however, is that he never discusses beauty. There's no sense of a subtler emotional connection to anything in his words. The Grand Canyon is just a great big hole, the sky just a vast empty space. To the sighted-viewer there is a feel of awe, of endlessness, or cathartic release in the sky, space, the Grand Canyon, the ocean, etc.

So, it made me start to wonder: how do blind people perceive beauty? Unfortunately, I do not personally know any blind people in my life.

So, ATS, here is your homework: If you know someone who is blind, and have the opportunity to sit down with them, ask them what the word "beauty" means to them, and how they perceive a beautiful thing. I'd be very interested to hear what their responses are.

And that's it. That's all I've got for this thread.

~ Wandering Scribe

reply to post by Wandering Scribe


I would want a blind person(from birth)to draw something for me, that would be hard to describe.

Im sure, he can draw sky, he was probably described what it is and how it is.. but how would he draw a "ball" of "smoke"....

That is the interesting part.

But in reality i feel bad for them, i rather be a mute than blind. Its a tough life.

luciddream
reply to post by Wandering Scribe

 

I would want a blind person(from birth)to draw something for me, that would be hard to describe.

Im sure, he can draw sky, he was probably described what it is and how it is.. but how would he draw a "ball" of "smoke"....

That is the interesting part.

But in reality i feel bad for them, i rather be a mute than blind. Its a tough life.

How the hell are they gonna draw anything? They're blind dude. What are they gonna pick colors? Maybe they draw a red sky, aka a bunch of scribble because they have no idea what they're drawing. I'd rather you be mute than blind as well, but I'd rather be blind than deaf.

I've known 2 blind people in my life. The first one was a woman, who became blind because of a brain tumor. She thought many things were beautiful, and enjoyed life to the max before her departure.

The other person was a man blind at birth. He was an hypocrite, cheap bastard. Nothing could find grace to his "eyes"... To him, everything and everyone was miserable.

But I suspect it had more to do with character than the blindness itself. Tho I suspect the blindness made him bitter, leading to described attitude.

I also do not think it represents what other blind people think of beauty. But it may. Handicapped people are people too, and any limitation puts its frustration on the human mind, to varying degrees. And this may affect how anything beautiful could be perceived as such.
Let me know if that last sentence didn't make sense... lol

As for blind people drawing, there was a thread here on ATS last year about a blind man drawing a car for a car company, a European one I think. It was rather impressive for a blind man to draw as well as he did.

But I'm a lousy searcher for past threads, sorry... lol

reply to post by Nostrenominon




wow how ignorant, blind people are not mentally retarded.

They can feel shapes and know how a circle "looks" like, however, they will not draw like how we would... which is why i said it will be interesting to see how they draw

after reading your post, I was curious about what art from someone who was blind
would interpret the world. After searching google, i discovered there are many artists who are blind, but one site grabbed my attention. www.armagan.com....
Esref Armagan has been blind from birth. I find it amazing
how he uses his remaining senses to paint accurate scenes.

Since beauty in a visual sense is usually perceived as a combination of harmonious ratios and proportions--the perception of beauty from someone blind would probably incorporate the same aspects. It's probably not a direct translation from one sense to the next, but the ratios I believe, are somewhat constant.

Nostrenominon

edit on 19-9-2013 by Nostrenominon because: (no reason given)

This post, edited out and saying nothing at all, is the most hilarious thing I have seen today.

RE: the OP....I do agree that it would be interesting to hear a description of beauty. I don't know anyone that can provide me any insight to help. But I am eagerly awaiting a response from another user.

Just glancing through a Google search of "blind sculpture" gives some amazing returns.

Very interesting subject.

Thanks everybody for the replies (and the comical little discussion too). I did do a Google search on blind artists and their creations, and I was very impressed. Almost every blind artist I looked at is better at their craft than I ever was at sketching or painting, ha ha.

More than just visual beauty though (relating to complementary colors, or proportions, as others have pointed out), I wonder if the blind have another method of interpreting beauty. I know, for myself, that I can find poetry beautiful, or even actions beautiful. Beauty, to my eyes, is not just the perfect selection of colors, or the right distance between eyes on a person. Beauty can be found in all kinds of places.

I think, lacking the ability to perceive visual beauty, that blind people may have some unexpected insights into where else beauty resides.

I look forward to continued replies, and appreciate all the input thus far.

~ Wandering Scribe

I had a blind professor once. He perceived beauty with the senses he did have...in listening to music or the sounds of his children's and loved ones voices, in touching soft things, in the smell of flowers, and in the taste of fine wines.

There's really no great mystery here?

reply to post by ~Lucidity

I had a blind professor once. He perceived beauty with the senses he did have...in listening to music or the sounds of his children's and loved ones voices, in touching soft things, in the smell of flowers, and in the taste of fine wines.

This is what I was looking for, thank you for posting!

This is a unique approach to beauty. The smell of flowers, the sound of peoples' voices, soft things... they're not universally believed to be beautiful. But they are beautiful to your professor, which gives us a much more personal look into how s/he perceives the world.

I can only wonder, but, do you think any human being with soft skin would be beautiful to your professor? How about anything with the smell of fresh cut flowers? Would you professor think that a grave site is beautiful if it had fresh flowers?

Even the idea of voices. While I have never met two people with exactly the same voice, I do have a handful of friends whose vocal nuances, accents, and patterns are so similar that I couldn't tell them apart if they spoke common phrases from behind a curtain. If the same happened to your professor, would both owners be equally beautiful?

Thanks for contributing!

~ Wandering Scribe

reply to post by Wandering Scribe


The blind guy from that video said on another video, that the great thing about being "blind" is that every girl he goes out with is a "10" and it is more about personality and voice.


To him, different "sounds", "smells", and "sensations" (from touch) are beautiful.