Through the Looking Glass, Dimly was an international collaboration project between Contemporary Art Exchange and blind photographers Andrew Follows (Melbourne) and Rosita McKenzie (Edinburgh). The project featured an exhibition, artist-led photography workshops and other events run over 2 weeks as part of the 2012 Edinburgh Art Festival.

Andrew’s hunger for travel and Rosita’s passion for collaboration were the driving forces behind the project, and key to the rationale behind Contemporary Art Exchange’s involvement. We also wanted to do something a little bit different for the Art Festival: to reposition artists often found on the periphery, to the center of mainstream contemporary art, and question the preconceptions about what visual art should be and who has permission to create it.

Follows and McKenzie were drawn together by their experiences of visual impairment, an interest in night photography and the effects of fire on the natural environment. Their intriguing and fascinating images of the everyday challenge the notion of sight, perception and knowing and question the presumed role vision plays within creating contemporary art.