Train operator Greater Anglia is marking the bicentenary of the modern railway and of the Braille reading system for blind people with art exhibitions at three of its stations.

The artwork has been created by blind and partially sighted (BPS) people, and aims to highlight the impact of sight loss on daily lives. The exhibition is on display at Colchester, Norwich, and Broxbourne railway stations.

The exhibition is called ‘Do You See What I See?’. It features art that visually represents the impact that sight loss has on blind and partially sighted people. It also features special railway heritage signs that include braille and tactile lettering.

The exhibition at Colchester is in the waiting room on platform 4 at the station. A special launch event saw the exhibition open to the public on Tuesday (18 March). The exhibition in Norwich opened on the same day.

A further exhibition is due to open soon in the waiting room at Broxbourne station. The exhibitions will remain in place until the end of April.

To create the exhibitions’ art works, volunteers from the Sight Loss Council volunteers, together with other blind and partially sighted individuals worked with several artists, including Lindsey Whitelaw and Clarke Reynolds.

They took descriptions from blind and partially sighted individuals on the ways in which they perceive the world, and transformed original pieces of art into a collection based on these descriptions. The final result has the aim of dispelling misconceptions about how blind and partially sighted people can create and access art.

The Essex & South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership donated poster board space for the exhibition.

Greater Anglia’s Customer and Community Improvement Fund provided five thousand pounds in financial support. The Fund supports local, community-focused rail improvements across the Greater Anglia network. It supports initiatives which benefit the community and enhance the positive role that rail plays in society. It welcomes ideas put forward by local organisations or bodies.

The project was organised by the Essex Sight Loss Council, which is funded by the Thomas Pocklington Trust, a national sight loss charity.

The Trust has also worked with other train operators, including on a Try a Train initiative in London, and a smartphone app on GTR.

Sight Loss Councils (SLCs) such as Essex SLC are regional groups, which are led by blind and partially sighted people. They help organisations to make their activities and services more accessible to people who are visually impaired.

Essex Sight Loss Council held a symposium at Greater Anglia’s Colchester offices on 18 March, the same day that two of the exhibitions opened. The symposium provided a platform for participants to share their lived experiences as blind and partially sighted passengers, which will help in the planning of more improvements to public transport facilities.

Sight Loss Council members will carry out further work with Greater Anglia, delivering ‘awareness’ sessions about vision to staff. The operator hopes that this will help to improve the service its provides to passenger, and enhance the travel experiences of blind and partially sighted people.

“Essex Sight Loss Council is excited to be working on this project with support from Greater Anglia and their Customer and Community Improvement Fund (CCIF). This initiative to install art at stations, that has either been created or in collaboration with blind and partially sighted people, helps highlight how everyone can create and enjoy art and supports our wider public-facing campaigns.

“The aim of the project is to improve some waiting areas in stations by using art to raise awareness of living with a vision impairment. It has also been designed to encourage our wider communities to engage with art in other ways, including feeling tactile art and listening to audio descriptions, and demonstrate how blind and partially sighted people actively participate in the arts.”

Sight Loss Council Engagement Manager for the East of England, Samantha Leftwich