Ritornare (Looking Back) by Amy Lyne

Public Project

Ritornare (Looking Back)

Copyright Amy Lyne 2025

Updated Jan 2017

Location Spring Valley, NY

Topics autism, Black and White, black and white photography, blind, Documentary, Emotion, Family, horseback riding, Mental Illness, Multimedia, music, New York, Personal, Photography, Photojournalism, piano, pool, Portraiture, summer camp, visions camp for the blind, visual impairment, youth

I met B. my first day at VCB (Visions Camp for the Blind), the same day she discovered the piano. Her mother told me she had been blind since birth and though she would often sing, she never spoke. I shadowed B's every move, until she sat down, not knowing what was in front of her. She lightly caressed the piano's keys. With each stroke, she twisted and turned her head then body, almost in contortions. As the first note rang out, B. squealed with glee. She then pounded the keys, euphoric and oblivious to the cacophony. B. and I sat at the piano for hours. It felt like a choreographed dance. She played. I shot. Her mother said she had never seen her so happy.

For the rest of the summer, I followed B. and was blessed to witness a series of her "firsts", as she swam in the pool and rode a horse for the first time.

Ritornare, 2010. Still Photography by Amy Lyne; Music by Ludovico Einaudi; Edited by Amy Lyne; 6 min., 26 sec.

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