There’s a difference between sight and vision, and that line is investigated with illuminating intimacy by “Vision Portraits,” Rodney Evans’ documentary about his struggles — and those of three oth…
’ documentary about his struggles — and those of three other artists — to continue working in the face of mounting blindness. Bolstered by the writer-director’s own journey, recounted via a collage-like aesthetic that eloquently conveys his circumscribed condition, it’s a nonfiction study of artistic creation and, also, of individual courage and perseverance.
The recipient of the Sundance Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize for his 2004 feature “Brother to Brother,” Evans was a filmmaker on the rise even though his sight had begun to deteriorate in 1996 on account of a rare genetic disease called retinitis pigmentosa that left him with something akin to tunnel vision. As he states in narration , that loss was terrifying for its impact on both his profession and on his life as a single New Yorker.
An analogous device is employed by Hamilton, who was born blind in one eye , and whose 2017 show “Near Sighted” required that audience members wear an eye patch as a means of replicating her unique circumstances. The issue of perspective arises in each of the documentary’s vignettes, which refuse to sugarcoat the frustration and hopelessness wrought by visual impairment, and yet confront those issues with a measure of optimism and humor.
The notion of blindness as simultaneously restrictive and freeing runs throughout “Vision Portraits,” which combines sequences of artists at work, shots from Evans’ limited POV, and expressionistic images of retinas, flashing lights, muted shapes and lunar eclipses to represent the diversity of its subjects’ state of sight.
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