SocialDocumentary.net | Mark Maio | Saving Sight - ORBIS International and the Flying Eye Hospital

Photographer: Mark Maio

Title: Saving Sight - ORBIS International and the Flying Eye Hospital

Location: Kwara/Ilorin, Nigeria

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Exhibit Abstract

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Exhibit Abstract

â€œShadow of Sightâ€
A young girl uses a trial lens in an assessment to determine the correction needed to improve her vision.

Forty million individuals around the world are blind with conditions that could be prevented or cured. The majority of these people live in Africa and Asia. They can be treated and their sight restored in as little as twenty-five minutes and at a cost as small as $25 each.

My project, “Saving Sight”, documents the activities of volunteer medical personnel who travel to remote global locations where specialized eye care may not otherwise be available. Using the Flying Eye Hospital, a converted DC10 plane with an ophthalmic exam area, operating room and lecture facilities, they partner with local hospitals to provide training. Their efforts are directed at performing medical procedures used in restoring vision and more importantly, transferring their skills to local medical personnel so that once the volunteers leave, sight will continue to be restored.

This project brings the two halves of my photographic life together. My career in medical and ophthalmic imaging combined with my documentary photography provides a unique perspective and allows my voice to tell the story of “Saving Sight”.

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My career in medical and ophthalmic photography is the result of my desire to use documentary photography to help people. Upon graduation from college in 1975, the market for documentary photographers had all but disappeared along with the decline of Life magazine. I viewed medical photography as an opportunity to satisfy my goal of helping people. A few years later I discovered the profession of ophthalmic photography. I realized there was no better way for my photography to serve people than by helping save their eyesight.

Working in medical imaging allowed me to pursue personal documentary projects. Rather than having a predetermined script for the photographs I make, I approach each of my documentary projects in the same way: Allow the project to tell me the story and how to photograph it. I learn by using my camera as a visual notebook, collecting images and letting the process of the project direct me.

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