Artist, art teacher, and band director Patrick Roberts has lost total vision in his right eye and partial vision in his left eye, including depth perception, due to glaucoma. He doesn’t allow these losses to define him, however.

While “I have to be very careful where I put my feet, because everything just looks flat,” he shared in an interview, he insists that he is the one in control of his life. “Glaucoma is living with me. I am not living with glaucoma.”* 

Perspective

Roberts has continued to paint, and had a recent exhibition entitled The Windows – a Conversation with Glaucoma in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago. 

Windows are the literal subject of all 25 paintings in the exhibit. They document, and represent, his 13-year journey with glaucoma.

“Shadows and things are very interesting to me now. So a lot of the work treats with shadow and shade and light and dark.”

Raising awareness

While the exhibition is a form of therapy for Roberts, his ultimate goal is to help save people’s sight. He hopes that his paintings demonstrate why eye health, and getting your eyes tested, is critically important.

“One sees with the brain and not the physical eye, I have been told, and that is true in many ways,” Roberts said. “However, we have learnt to first see with the eyes, and loss of that faculty is frightening, especially for me, a visual artist.”

Though frightened, Roberts refuses to be daunted, and actively working with the new limitations instead of railing against them has only enhanced his appreciation of visual beauty. 

“Now that I am relearning, retooling, retraining, and really seeing through the window,” he says, “…every sunrise, sunset, and everything in between is even more breathtaking.”

*Doughty, M. (2023, December 1). The Windows – A conversation with glaucoma by Patrick Roberts. Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. https://newsday.co.tt/2023/12/01/the-windows-a-conversation-with-glaucoma-by-patrick-roberts/