Blind artist uses art to shine a light on vision care

For over 50 years, Patrick Thomas Roberts has been producing poignant art pieces.

At a tender age, the Laventille-born artist has been drawing attention not only for his stunning pieces but for their powerful messages of hope and resilience.

During an interview with Guardian Media on World Sight Day commemorated on October 10, Roberts who is now battling against glaucoma in both eyes, explained that even amid his fading vision, his boundless love for art will never escape his hands.

“As a boy going Queen’s Royal College, I was also in love with mas, and on evenings I would pass by many mas camps on my way home, not so much for the mas, but for the drawings and art of the mas. I used to look at the art and I was intrigued and amazed and wondered if one day I would be able to do that,” he recalled.

Roberts said a school visit to witness legendary mas man Edmond Hart’s Inferno also inspired him to become the first student at the school to pursue art at an advanced level. Throughout the years, Roberts’ colourful and dynamic creations could be found across the country, region and worldwide.

While his hands sketched, shaded and coloured, Roberts’ eyes ensured all subtle details never blurred. However, 12 years ago, his once coloured canvass became cloudy.

“I took my youngest son Jamal to get his eyes checked because he was complaining and I decided ‘I here already, let me check mine’ and they suggested I had glaucoma and from then it’s been a different kind of journey.”

As the world around Roberts darkened, his love for art never flickered nor dimmed.

“You see shadows, they have really become important and this last exhibition I dealt a lot with the shadows. I’m using the shadows to see—sounds kind of mad. I also now paint in reverse. All of this is driven by glaucoma, I tell people I have glaucoma; glaucoma does not have me and glaucoma lives with me and it has to pay or get out,” he declared.

With the focus on eye care for this year’s World Sight Day, Roberts, who only has 30 per cent vision in his left eye is considered legally blind. Now as an advocate for eye health, he said people continue to not take their’s seriously.

“Once your eyes go, you become dependent. As independent as we men like to think we are and we don’t want to go by the doctor, when your eye sight starts to go you will become dependent, so take in front before in front take you.”

Roberts maintained that eye health services should be accessible, available and affordable for all.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), research shows that reducing screen time and spending time outside protects children from developing short-sightedness (myopia), which means that parents, caregivers and educators have a central role to play in protecting the vision of our future generations.

Regular eye and vision checks can help to identify issues at an early stage.

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