Iconic Photographs of Blind People Prove Seeing Isn’t Knowing

Photography often claims to reveal truth, yet images of blind individuals challenge this certainty. Paul Strand, Walker Evans, and Jacob Riis each explored how sight and knowledge intertwine through their portraits of people who cannot see, forcing viewers to reconsider what it means to perceive.

Paul Strand’s Portraits

In 1916, Paul Strand captured one of the most striking images of blindness in photography history — the portrait of a blind woman on a New York street. She faces the camera directly, wearing a small sign that reads “BLIND.” The image feels both tender and unsettling, exposing the vulnerability of the subject while implicating the viewer’s act of looking.

Jacob Riis and Social Documentation

Jacob Riis, working earlier in the 1880s and 1890s, used photography as a social reform tool. In his work documenting New York’s slums, blind residents often appeared as symbols of urban suffering. While Riis sought compassion, his pictures also underscore the power imbalance between photographer and subject — between the seeing and the unseen.

Walker Evans and Modern Observation

Walker Evans revisited this theme during the Great Depression, photographing blind street vendors and musicians. His images, though documentary in style, convey quiet dignity and a sense of self-contained presence. Evans’s work suggests that blindness does not equal invisibility and that perception extends beyond vision.

Beyond Sight — The Paradox of Photography

Together, these photographers reveal photography’s paradox: a medium that depends on sight yet often grapples with what cannot be seen. Their images of blind individuals expose photography’s own limits and remind us that understanding involves more than visual recognition.

“To see is not necessarily to know.”

Author’s summary: Through portraits of blind subjects by Strand, Evans, and Riis, photography is revealed as a medium both reliant on and challenged by the act of seeing.

ARTnews.com — 2025-11-27