PHOTOBOOK, OUR CO-BLIND – A Visual Ethnography of the Visually Impaired Community in the Northern Philippines
“OUR CO-BLIND -A Visual Ethnography of the Visually Impaired Community in the Northern Philippines” is a visual anthropological research project exploring the care practices and social movements among visually impaired communities in the northern Philippines. Grounded in years of fieldwork, photography, and filmmaking, the project combines sensory interventions with an ethnographic approach to uncover the community’s inner logic and forms of intimacy. Through dialogue and immersion in their sensory worlds via photography, the researcher collaborates with visually impaired interlocutors to philosophically examine what it truly means to “see better” beyond vision.
B5 size / 112 pages / Photography, Text and Design by Masato Ushimaru / Printed in Japan by inuunic / Published in Jan 2025
ETHNOGRAPHIC FILM “OUR CO-BLIND”
Summary (translated from webiste): Produced as the result of a research project for the Master’s in Visual Anthropology at Aarhus University, Denmark, this work focuses on the autonomous community and social movement formed by visually impaired people living in the highland city of Baguio City and its surrounding areas in the province of Benguet in the northern Philippines. Starting with ethnography on care practices within the community of visually impaired people, the film depicts spontaneous and generative care relationships that are tailored to the situation, going beyond the binary role recognition of “caregiver” and “care recipient.” Furthermore, it captures how the “bigger voices” that people with disabilities acquire by gathering together and sharing their lives are heard by the society of the northern Philippines and lead to social movements. There, the reality emerges that “care,” which is often spoken of with an emotional and human impression, is an extremely logical and strategic act.
Title “Our Co-Blind – An Ethnography of Care among Visually Impaired Communities in Baguio”
Year of Production 2023
Country of Production Denmark
Duration 38min
Interlocutors Alfredo Esquillo, Shirley Esquillo, Domingo Regados, Junifer Ap-Ap, Jennifer Maysa (br />
Director / Editor Masato Ushimaru (Aarhus University, MSc in Visual Anthropology)
Translator Darleen Vee Bialno
