Images: Visual relief for the nearly blind

In addition to directing the Visual Experiences for the Blind Group at MIT, Goldring also creates art. Her "retina prints" layer a featured image, taken with a digital camera, over the image of a retina, a symbol of the process behind the Retinal Imaging Machine Vision System (RIMVS)--the color-seeing machine she co-developed with other researchers. "Dome" (2004) shows a picture of the Massachusetts State House in Boston.

Elizabeth Goldring

Goldring, who is also a poet, said she greatly missed the pleasure of visual language once she lost her sight. She responded by developing an English-language dictionary, "Visual Language for the Blind," that incorporates symbols and pictures to convey meaning. So far, the dictionary contains nouns, verbs and words linked to spatial concepts, such as the word "across", as illustrated here.

Elizabeth Goldring

"Door on Sabrina's Retina" (1998). Here, Elizabeth Goldring incorporates her visual word for "door" in a retina print, a nod to the door the RIMVS has opened for her visually. Without the machine, Goldring said, her everyday visual world consists of light and shadow perception.

Elizabeth Goldring

"Book," from Elizabeth Goldring's "Visual Language for the Blind."

Elizabeth Goldring

"Murano Virgin on Goldring's Retina" (2002).

Elizabeth Goldring

"Fear," from Elizabeth Goldring's "Visual Language for the Blind."

Elizabeth Goldring