Beyond Seeing
India is home to an estimated 320,000 blind children, accounting for nearly one-fifth of the world’s total.
Most are blind due to preventable causes: measles-related scarring, vitamin A deficiency, cataracts, or complications from premature birth. In rural areas, limited access to early diagnosis, treatment, and inclusive education deepens the impact. Foundations like Ek Kadam Aur are working to change that, bringing specialized teaching, assistive technology, and family support directly into homes.
I went to photograph children I was told couldn’t see. What I didn’t expect was how clearly they would teach me to.
Children born blind—many to families told not to expect much—don’t move through the world like something is missing. They move like they’ve adapted to something most people don’t even try to understand. They count steps by feel, trace your face with their fingers, and hear you smile.
There was a boy who taught me how to use braille. A girl who beat me at jump rope—three times in a row. A ten-year-old yoga teacher with more balance than I’ve ever had. These weren’t photo ops; they were a challenge to my assumptions. Behind every frame was a story that had to be earned. No dramatic lighting, no over orchestration — just truth: hands moving across a braille page, a child listening to a sound I couldn’t hear, a teacher kneeling on the ground, guiding a student’s fingers across a reader.
I wasn’t capturing pity or perfection. I was witnessing power—the quiet kind that doesn’t need eyes to be seen.
These images aren’t only about blindness. They’re also about clarity, curiosity and compassion. The kind that appears when you stop looking for what’s missing and start noticing what’s there.
