L I G H T

Story of a blind man who can paint

ESREFARMAGAN

Insights to helping visually impaired

the tactile alphabet

HELENKELLERA deafblind person pursuits her BA degree

Issue 1 March 09,2012

This is a tactile and visual magazine

This is a tactile and visual magazine

This magazine is for the families of visually impaired and the visually impaired.

IN THIS ISSUE

THe tactile alphabet

5

An introduction to the braille system

Infographics

21

EXpolrations

HelenKeller

INspirationwith Esref Armagan

19159

Some stats and numbers

Inspiration quotes

Close your eyes

The artist with no eyes.

Sensing the world through touch

THe tactile alphabet

Each Braille character, or cell, is made up

of six dot positions, arranged in a

rectangle containing two columns of three

dots each. A dot may be raised at any of

the six positions to form sixty-four (26)

possible subsets, including the

arrangement in which no dots are raised.

For reference purposes, a particular

permutation may be described by naming

the positions where dots are raised, the

positions being universally numbered 1 to

3, from top to bottom, on the left, and 4 to

6, from top to bottom, on the right. For

example, dots 1-3-4 (�) would describe a

cell with three dots raised, at the top and

bottom in the left column and on top of the

right column, i.e., the letter m. The lines of

horizontal Braille text are separated by a

space, much like visible printed text, so that

the dots of one line can be differentiated

from the Braille text above and below.

Punctuation is represented by its own

unique set of characters.

F G H I J

A B C D E

the alphabet

P Q R S T

K L M N O

F G H I J

A B C D E U V W X Y

Z

"Mr. Armagan is an important figure in the history of picture-making,

and in the history of knowledge. His work is remarkable. I was struck

by the drawings he has made as much as by his work with paint. He

has demonstrated for the first time that a blind person can develop on

his or her own pictorial skills the equal of most depiction by the

sighted. This has not happened before in the history of

picture-making."

John M. Kennedy, Professor

Perception/Cognition Psychology

ESREF ARMAGANESREF ARMAGAN

1 31 31 31 31 3

esref armagant

1 41 41 41 41 41 41 41 41 41 4

Esref Armagan was born both unsighted and

to an impoverished family. As a child and

young adult he never received any formal

schooling or training; however, he has taught

himself to write and print. He draws and paints

by using his hands and primarily oil paints. In

this manner, Mr. Armagan has been

perfecting his art for the past thirty-five years.

He needs absolute quite when working. First,

using a Braille stylus, he etches an outline of

his drawing. He needs to feel that he is "inside"

his painting-- in fact, when he is drawing a

picture of the sea, he often wonders if he

should wear a life jacket so as not drown!

When he is satisfied with his drawing, he starts

to apply the oils with his fingers. Because he

applies only one color at a time (the colors

would smear otherwise), he must wait two or

three days for the color to dry before applying

the next color. This method of painting is

entirely unique to Mr. Armagan. He receives no

assistance or training from any individual. He

also learned to draw perspective.

“the artist

with no eyes”

He has also developed his own methods of

doing portraits. He asks a sighted person to

draw around a photograph, then he turns

the paper over and feeling it with his left

hand, he transfer what he feels onto

another sheet of paper, later adding color.

He has done portraits of the former first

lady of Turkey, the current president and

current prime minister.

Mr. Armagan is currently forty-one years

old, married with two children. He has

displayed his work at more than 20 hibition

in Turkey and in Holland and the Czech

Republic. He has appeared several

extimes on television and in the press in

Turkey and has been on programs of the

BBC and ZDF.t

CLOSE YOUR EYES AND DRAW A PERSON

CLOSE YOUR EYES AND DRAW A PERSON

. .

use your figures to trace the edges

I t g i v e s m e a d e e p , c o m f o r t i n g s e n s e t h a t t h i n g s s e e n a r e t e m p o r a l a n d t h i n g s u n s e e n a r e e t e r n a l .

I t g i v e s m e a d e e p , c o m f o r t i n g s e n s e t h a t t h i n g s s e e n a r e t e m p o r a l a n d t h i n g s u n s e e n a r e e t e r n a l .

- H e l e n K e l l e r