Aaron McPeake

This is a proposal for a series of films that investigate in parallel the experiences of two blind travellers: James Holman, a British navy lieutenant (1786-1857) and the artist, who is registered blind.

The idea for the work came from a book also entitled A Sense of the World. Written by Jason Roberts, this biography chronicles Holman's travels around Europe and the Middle East, across Siberia, and eventually around the world.

A sense of the world uses strategies of re-enactment to evoke Holman's movements, with shadows serving to record the artist's own intercontinental wanderings. Silhouettes and shadows, demonstrating little visual detail, are powerful in their ability to suggest the resonance of meaning to the viewer and are a fitting visual medium to reflect the experience of the 'blind traveller'. A spoken narrative will compliment the visual aspect of the work to ensure that both sighted and unsighted viewers can engage with the film.

James Holman himself wrote many volumes about his travels, and a textual element may become necessary to identify the links between the artist's travels and Holman's expeditions and between travelogues in novelistic and filmic form.