John Fawcett Foundation & Affordable Art Fair #advocacy

In rural Indonesia, cataracts are the leading cause of blindness. It’s preventable and treatable, yet thousands lose their sight because care is out of reach. To help people understand what that loss really feels like, we invited artists to show us the experience.

Using AR, we built a cataract simulator that blurred light, dulled colour, and flattened depth; replicating how the world looks through cataract-clouded eyes.

Then we asked artists to paint what they saw. The result was Catarart – artworks created under simulated blindness, which stood apart from everything else at the Affordable Art Fair.

The campaign raised awareness for preventable blindness in rural Indonesia, and every art work sold helped fund life-changing treatment:

• 20 custom-made prosthetic eyes
• 1,395 pairs of eyeglasses
• Cataract screening for 1,868 people
• Surgeries for 222 patients; restoring sight, independence, and income

In the news

AR app gives artists virtual cataracts as part of public awareness campaign

Artists donate their eyesight in hope to cure cataracts