Blink!

An immersive photographic display will allow visitors to experience stunning photographs disappearing in the blink of an eye.

The exhibition, BLINK!, is being held by Sightsavers to raise awareness of the charity’s campaign to eliminate the blinding eye disease, trachoma.

Famous photographers including leading fashion photographer, Nick Knight, the late David Goldblatt, and award winning photo journalists Kate Holt, Georgina Cranston, and, Tommy Trenchard donated images of a sight they would miss if they lost their vision, to be gradually and permanently worn away with each and every blink of visitors’ eyes during the exhibition.

Most of us blink without thinking about it – we do it around 20 times every minute. But for people suffering with trachoma, each blink can be agony and with advanced trachoma, each blink brings them closer to blindness.

To echo this experience, every time the viewer blinks in the exhibition, the photograph they are looking at will alter. It will slowly degrade and eventually distort to such an extent that it is gone forever.

Trachoma is a debilitating disease that traps people in a vicious cycle of pain, blindness and poverty. It stops children from playing with their friends and going to school. It stops adults from working, looking after their families and and playing a productive role in their communities. Yet trachoma is totally preventable.

The trachoma infection can be treated with antibiotics, at a cost of as little as 15p per treatment. A straight forward operation to treat the advanced stages of the disease costs just £44.

Incredible progress has been made, and the number of people at risk of trachoma has fallen by 91% since 2002. But more needs to be done to wipe out the disease. Eliminating trachoma and providing improved ongoing access to eye health care can transform the lives of some of the most vulnerable communities in the world.