PERCEPTIONS
We Do Not See with Our Eyes
An artist in search of truth exposes our "blind spots."
BY JEEVAK LAL, M.D., PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD

I first met Mr. Mario Lewis several years ago. He had a problem with his eyes and couldn't see clearly. The situation was slowly worsening and affecting his ability to work. I asked him what he did for a living. He said he did "a little art."

"What kind of art?"

"Well, doc, modern, kind of contemporary art. Paintings and things."

By things I thought he meant T-shirts and billboards. And I said so.

"Yes, doc, sometimes I do those things."

Later, to my embarrassment, I learned that Mario was no ordinary painter. And he was certainly no painter of signs. I had misjudged him. But much of that was his fault. You see, Mario is so simple, so humble, that one fails to sense his greatness. His talk is soft, and his words are the words of the uncomplicated people of the treasured island of Trinidad. He's a gifted soul, and those who know him and his work say he's marked for greatness.

One day he brought me a gift. It was a sketch. It was a high honor, and I asked that we be photographed. I was proudly holding the sketch when he shyly reached across and turned the sketch around. He said, "Doc, you must hold it the right way up!"

Later I asked him what the sketch represented because I couldn't figure it out. He said he did not know himself! But the work had just flowed spontaneously and each time he looked at it, it meant something a little different. This mysterious work (shown below) now hangs in my office!

Through his experience with his eyes and their bonds to art and color, Mario decided to create a work that would blend the two. His exhibition is designed to be a visual experience centered around the "blind spot." As ophthalmologists, we know that the blind spot is a very real spot, even though it's of little practical consequence. Our eyes and minds compensate for the deficit. But from a philosophical aspect, the blind spot is of fundamental significance. As any philosopher worth his salt will tell us, we do not see with our eyes. We see with our hearts and souls.

How often do we turn away from the beggar knocking on our car window? How often and how quickly do we flip the page that shows pictures of malnourished children? And how quickly do we rush by the litter and squalor that pockmark our land? We choose not to see these things.

We turn a blind eye. In other words, we enlarge our blind spot. And in an opposite vein, how often do we see the lonely pouis blossom and cheer a hillside? Or admire the rain clouds scudding across our skies? Or see the sheer joy in the eyes of a child when school is out?

So, the blind spot signifies much more than its minuteness would suggest. The blind spots that burden us all need to be studied and erased. And in his search for truth, in his search to expose our blind spots, Mario is leading us along the right path. We should watch and follow him.