The Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment (iSEE ) is planning to hold an exhibition in September featuring special photos taken by visually impaired people in the southern province of Binh Duong.

Since April, the institute, in collaboration with students from the Ho Chi Minh City Foreign Trade University, has run a project called Photovoice, in which the institute has handed out cameras to 10 visually impaired people and then trained them how to capture the best moments of their daily life. After two months of practicing, the amateur photographers have caught moments in the most vivid way, which is difficult for professional photographers to do.

“Joining the project, we feel much more confident. I hope that people will see that visually impaired people can do many things, including taking photos,” Tran Van Em, chairman of the Binh Duong Association of the Blind, said.

Last November, iSEE also organized a Photovoice exhibition in Hanoi and HCMC featuring photographs reflecting cultural practices, livelihoods, beliefs, spirituality and recent changes in daily life taken by ethnic people. The event attracted viewers who said that they were very surprised to see that the amateurs’ pictures were so vivid and beautiful.