Welcome to our digital gallery where you can access all the image descriptions and information from our signs at MK Gallery in digital format. We hope you enjoy exploring our mini exhibition! If you’d like to find out more about our charity, click here to head to our homepage.
VICTA
Based in Milton Keynes since the charity was formed over 30 years ago, VICTA supports blind and partially sighted children and young adults across the UK. Our activities and programmes bring people together and help build confidence, life skills and all important support networks. Our programmes are never held back by assumptions and demonstrate that barriers are there to be overcome with open minds and creative solutions.
Everyone should be able to express their creativity and enjoy the arts in a way accessible to them. The artwork on display today is from our annual Braille Art Competition and Blind Photography Course. We excited to showcase everyone’s talent!
To find out more about VICTA visit victa.org.uk or follow us on social media @victauk
VICTA Blind Photography Course with the London Institute of Photography (LIOP)
This annual course for blind and partially sighted young adults is hosted by the London Institute of Photography. Through street photography and carefully staged studio work, the students explore their unique perspectives, capturing what matters most to them and how they experience the world. Discover striking images featuring high contrast, soft focus and intimate close-up views, each offering a different way of seeing.
Image descriptions for photo prints displayed from left to right
Emmy Anstee
A bright outdoor photograph of a contemporary office building with tall glass walls and dark steel framing. In the foreground, a long rectangular reflecting pool stretches across the bottom of the image, mirroring the building, trees and sky. Young trees with autumn leaves in shades of yellow, orange and pink stand along a strip of vivid green grass beside the water. The building’s cool blues contrast with the warm colours of the foliage, while gentle ripples in the pool soften the reflections. The image combines architecture, landscape and water into a colourful urban scene. The image has a vibrant, extreme contrast and almost neon feel.
Ewan Walker
A greyscale, grainy image of a shadow cast over a car door and window to create a dramatic effect. It isn’t obvious at first what the object is, it is quite an abstract image. The shadow is cast over the door handle and there is a line where the door meets the window. The shadow shows just the shoulders, head and an arm reaching up to the head, holding the camera to take the shot. This is one of Ewan’s self-portrait reflection photographs.
Ravi Nagardas
Self-portrait created through the reflection in a shop window, where multiple layers of glass, colour and text overlap. The photographer stands in the lower half of the frame, holding a compact camera with both hands in front of their face. They wear a light-coloured padded jacket, while their features are mostly hidden by the camera and the deep red tint that washes over the image. The window reflects signs from the street, with large black lettering appearing backwards across the top. Bright red-orange panels divide the composition into vertical bands, creating a collage of reflections that partially obscure the photographer. In the background, faint glimpses of the street, illuminated signs and a display inside the shop can be seen through the glass. The photograph is abstract and the dominant red tones give the image warmth and intensity, turning an everyday shop window into a complex composition of colour, light and overlapping perspectives.
Ruqaiya Asim
An extreme close-up fills the frame with the face of Ruqaiya’s golden retriever guide dog. The dog’s large brown eyes sit near the top corners of the image, looking directly towards the camera with a calm, curious expression. His broad nose dominates the foreground, so close to the lens that every ridge and texture is visible. Warm golden fur surrounds the face, while the photograph’s colours have been heavily enhanced, giving the nose vivid shades of blue and purple and adding cool blue tones around the edges of the image. The shallow framing leaves almost no background visible, focusing entirely on the dog’s gentle features and inquisitive gaze. The result is playful, intimate and full of personality.
Amy Gifford
A hand holds a smartphone in the centre of the photograph, using its camera to capture a brightly lit carousel at night. The real carousel behind the phone is softly blurred into glowing circles of warm white, yellow and red light. On the phone’s screen, the carousel appears crisp and detailed, revealing painted horses, decorative panels and strings of lights. The camera app interface is visible, including the shutter button, framing guides and exposure controls, emphasising the act of taking the photograph. The dark silhouette of the photographer’s hand frames the lower part of the image, contrasting with the brilliant lights of the fairground. The composition creates the impression of looking at two versions of the same scene at once: one through the eye of the camera and one through the eye of the viewer. The viewpoint echoes the technique used by Amy, a partially sighted photographer, to zoom in and access the scenes in front of her.
Max Campion
“I took the photograph of the graffiti face so I could see an outline of myself within the photo. During the post production I wanted to bring out the contrast of the colours even more so I could see the outlines of the face, the eyes, the eyebrows and nose. I wanted to pick out features that describe my face and wanted to try and interpretative the face so it looks kind of like mine. I felt that having a reflection of a face within a photograph would be cool. I especially like the colour yellow which is at the bottom of the face and I like the colour of green that brings out the eyes within the face. I also like the red on its nose and red with on its forehead. I wanted to bring out more contrast throughout the photo so I could pick out the features of the face.”
Ruqayyah Ullah
A person walks past a colourful mosaic wall made from thousands of small ceramic tiles arranged into repeating diamond shapes. The geometric pattern fills almost the entire frame in muted blues, greens, oranges, reds and creams. The person appears on the right-hand side, slightly blurred by movement, wearing a long white checked coat and a bright blue scarf. One hand is raised to their face as they walk. The person, blurred as they move are almost lost among the clash of patterns.
Ruqayyah Ullah
A maroon pink coloured face in a reflection looks toward a person who stands with their back to the camera. He has short, curly blond hair and wears a dark green hooded jacket. He’s using an iPad to take a photo of the same reflected face. The reflected face takes up the left side of the photograph, it appears enlarged and softly blurred, washed in vivid shades of pink, purple and blue. Behind them, dark window frames form a grid that contrasts with the bright, abstract reflection. The composition places reality and reflection side by side, creating a striking contrast between detail and soft, luminous colour. The whole image has a grainy finish.
Hanna Ajaz
Hanna’s self-portrait taken in the reflection of a window. Hanna stands to left of the frame and smiles into the photo with the camera held out in front of a part of her face. The right half of the photo shows the backdrop of a London pedestrian area with a couple of blurred figures talking in the background. The glass is covered in small droplets of water which creates an interesting texture across the image and brings out high contrasted colours.
Rosie Percy
A lone cyclist rides through a city street, captured in sharp focus against a background that has been intentionally blurred by the movement of the camera. The rider wears a dark blue jacket, pale blue jeans, white trainers and a black backpack, sitting upright on a black bicycle as they travel from left to right across the frame. The buildings behind them dissolve into broad streaks of warm brick reds, creams, blues and pinks, while traffic lights and shopfronts become soft lines of colour. The road surface remains muted grey, with the cyclist appearing almost suspended against the flowing city around them. The contrast between the cyclist and the motion blur creates a strong sense of speed and movement.
VICTA Braille Art Competition
To celebrate Louis Braille’s birthday each January, VICTA hosts an annual Braille Art Competition. The competition celebrates the incredible tactile code that is a lifeline for many blind people. Younger children are invited to create a piece of art which represents their name in Braille. Older children and young adults are given a different them to explore each year. They can interpret the theme in their own way, incorporating Braille or tactile elements to make it engaging and inclusive.
For these artworks, please do touch!
