October 2, 2020 - 11:54
In "A Portrait of the Artist by His Blind Daughter," her father spotted flaws she had never spotted herself. She said that there has never been a pimple her father didn't mention to her. I would HATE that. I feel like this would make me so self-conscious and make me feel like I needed to be perfect at all times. He obviously has extreme attention to detail, but I wonder why he mentions this instead of taking notes and keeping it to himself.
Comments
This is a super interesting
Submitted by Elena on October 3, 2020 - 14:02 Permalink
This is a super interesting point to pick up on! Maybe a reason why Kleege's father pointed out these details was to try to create a bridge with the sighted world or how others see her (literally/physically). By pointing out different and seemingly insignificant details, the father may be trying to construct a view of the sighted world for her. As sighted viewers, we think these things are insignificant and 'weird' because we see them everyday/they are so common. These sharp details would not seen the same way for Kleege as she has macular degeneration.
Kleege's father
Submitted by Helenm on October 4, 2020 - 12:27 Permalink
I agree with both of these comments! Kleege's father is such a visual person, even more than the average visual artist. Most likely, he cannot comprehend what it's like to not be able to have this sense he values so much. He probably thinks that Kleege mourns the loss of her sight like he would if he were blind. His way of showing his love for her might be to give her as much detail of the sighted world as possible so that she wouldn't feel left behind in the sighted world.