A TALENTED artist has rediscovered her passion for drawing – despite being blind.
Zoe Legg from South Ham has now teamed up with her art student partner, Lee Clift from Black Dam, to show her work.
The exhibition, Incarceration, opened on Saturday at the Willis Museum and features a mixture of paintings, drawings, sculpture, and mixed media pieces, which explore Zoe’s experience of losing her sight.
The 38-year-old said the works are the result of two years’ collaboration with Lee.
Zoe was diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease when she was 16.
The genetic disorder caused the muscles around her eyes to gradually deteriorate until she was declared officially blind in her late 20s.
Despite the condition, she studied art at college – but gave it up when she started to lose her vision.
She said: “The diagnosis put the fear of god into me. I was very frightened. I was told when I could see fine, but it slowly crept up on me.
“When you realise it is happening you become very fearful and go through stages of denial and anger – similar to bereavement. I lost something that was important to me.”
“But now I feel ready to start using it in a positive way. I have accepted it.”
Zoe gave up art to concentrate being a single mum, bringing up her now 12-year-old son Rhys.
She was inspired to start creating again and enrolled on a higher education diploma in art and design at Basingstoke College of Technology in 2009.
Zoe relies on her guide dog Fuzz to get around, but has a tiny amount of peripheral vision and can make out basic shapes.
She said: “When I put a picture together, it’s like doing a puzzle. I can only see small bits and blocks of colour. I do each piece and see the whole thing in my head.
“A lot of my inspiration now comes from memories and feelings and past experiences.
“I live in a world of sound and touch. Art is not all about what you can see, but also emotions and feelings.”
The free exhibitions runs until August 13.
For more information contact 08456 035635.
