Foley Gallery is pleased to present “Blind Prom,” an exhibition of documentary photography and formal portraiture by photographer Sarah Wilson.

For the students at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, prom night is a momentous occasion. Since the spring season of 2006, Sarah Wilson has offered her professional services as the prom photographer for TSBVI. She marks, “From the moment the girls began trying on their dresses in the dorm rooms, till the last dance at midnight, I was there taking pictures, fully immersed in a familiar teenage excitement and energy. For many of the kids this was the most formal event they had ever attended. It was Prom, and it was a big deal.”

Sarah Wilson was introduced to the blind community in 2005 when she began working as a stills photographer and field producer on the PBS-funded film, The Eyes of Me, a documentary about four students attending the Texas School for the Blind in Austin, Texas. Springing from her immersion into this film’s new company, Wilson’s own series, “Blind Prom,” focuses on an American right of passage, the high school prom. Throughout the night she captures candid moments of the prom attendees, while producing their formal portraits. These rich, full-color images express the joy and spirit of, the thrill and intensity for a group of marginalized teens participating in the universal experience of attending a formal prom.

Acknowledging the question, ‘why photograph blind teenagers if they may never see the images,’ Wilson explains, “The simple answer is that the kids loved having their portraits made in their tuxes and tiaras that night. And, these pictures were made available to share with parents and friends back home.”

Over the last three years Wilson has become close to many of the students at TSBVI, and their experiences have challenged her ideas about what it means to have a disability. She believes that these images from prom night have a universal appeal, and could become a medium for consideration and understanding of what life might be like as a blind teenager. With this project she hopes to challenge the preconceptions of others, focus on the connecting points between diverse communities within the American landscape and through portraiture, reveal our shared humanity.

Sarah Wilson received her degree in photography from New York University. She was awarded the 2008 PhotoNOLA Review Prize from The New Orleans Photo Alliance for “Blind Prom”. Her most celebrated project to date, “Jasper, Texas: The Road To Redemption,” earned a Photo District News Photo Annual Award, and selected prints from the series have been included in the permanent collections of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. She travels abroad on editorial assignments for Texas Monthly, EuroMan Magazine, Mother Jones, the London Sunday Times Magazine, and CNN. Her personal projects have been published in Texas Monthly, and exhibited at galleries nationwide, including the White Box Gallery in New York City. Wilson currently lives in Austin, Texas.