Having both visual and hearing impairments doesn’t hold Angie Knarr back or keep her from enjoying life.
“I’m up for anything,” she said. “I’m adventurous. I enjoy people. I enjoy nature. I enjoy animals. I just enjoy the world.”
Knarr, 55, of Alsace Township is one of four visually impaired individuals who volunteered to take photographs for the Berks History Center’s newest exhibit, Sights Unseen.
A project of the history center and Vision Resource Center of Berks County, the exhibit opened in late January and runs through June.
It brings to light a project initiated in the 1970s by photographer W. Marc Bernsau, who worked alongside four blind Berks residents, equipping them with cameras to capture images of the greater Reading area guided by their senses of hearing and smell.
Berks History Center exhibit to feature photos taken by blind and visually impaired volunteers
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Many of the more than 50-year-old photos depict places and buildings in Reading that have changed or are no longer there and are of historical interest, said Lori Peters, president/CEO of the vision center, 2020 Hampden Blvd.
The exhibit also features photographs of Reading and vicinity taken last year by Knarr, Craig Coller and two other clients of the VRC who volunteered to reimagine the art experiment.
“The exhibit celebrates the creative perspectives of these photographers and offers an intimate glimpse into their experiences,” said Amber Vroman, curator of the history center at 940 Centre Ave.
Knarr, a retired preschool teacher who graduated summa cum laude from Millersville University with a degree in early education, began losing her sight at birth and was completely blind in her right eye by age 6.
She has undergone multiple surgeries to preserve the little vision in her left eye, she said, but has never achieved vision greater than 20/80.
A married mother of three, Knarr is creative by nature and enjoys pottery making, swimming, horseback riding and other outdoor activities.
She has been hiking since childhood and recalled learning a lifelong lesson on a family trip when she was about 7.
Although she had already lost most of her vision, her parents allowed her to run ahead on the trail with her brothers.
“I ran right into a pole in the middle of the trail,” she said. “It taught me to fall down, bounce back, get up and go.”
Knarr said she feels most at home when out in nature, and many of her photographs depict plants and animals.
“I live in nature,” she said, explaining the 4-acre rural property she shares with her husband, Lee Knarr, and their children is rimmed with woods and bisected by a creek and pond.
Her parents’ home is just a quarter-mile’s walk through the woods, she said, and it’s her habit to walk there daily.
Though her hearing also is limited, Knarr said, her camera work was guided by the sounds heard on the two properties: the splash of a frog hopping into the pond, the rustling of squirrels in the trees overheard and the clucking of her father’s chickens in their pen.
“I can hear his chickens from our home,” she said. “The hens cackle like crazy. And we hear the rooster crowing.”
There is also a photo of her father on his riding mower.
“I heard the motor and turned in that direction to get the picture,” she said.
Knarr grew emotional when acknowledging that her various conditions, including thin retinas, glaucoma and cataracts, threaten the little vision she has left.
But she is determined to remain positive, she said.
“I’ve been told a lot lately that I’m so happy, I’m so jovial, I’m so bright, I’m so colorful,” Knarr said.
Her positivity is a choice, she said.
“Sometimes, you just have to smile and laugh,” she said. “Everyone should do it. It’s infectious. Share the love. Share the world.”
In contrast to Knarr’s nature photography, Coller’s photos feature urban subjects: city buildings, streets and traffic.
A retired case worker, the Reading resident, 71, has had limited vision in only one eye since birth.
Multiple surgeries over the years periodically restored some sight to his left eye, he said, but he now sees little more than shadows.
When his vision was better, Coller said, he developed a passion for photography and even had his own darkroom for developing his work.
For the exhibit, he photographed many of the places he remembers from his past and attempted to recreate some of his earlier works.
Like Knarr, he was guided by sounds. But the sounds of the city have changed in the nearly 50 years since he took up photography.
“It’s quite different,” he said. “You don’t have as many people walking around downtown. And you don’t hear buses all the time.”
There were more buses years ago and they were noisier than the modern vehicles, he noted.
The exhibit also includes photographs taken last year by Laura Rutter, 44, who was born with limited sight, and Justin Vernon, 25, who lost his sight in 2022 due to head trauma suffered in an accident.
For questions and more information, visit the Berks History Center website at berkshistory.org or call BHC at 610-375-4375.
The history center is open Wednesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Source: Berkshire mont
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