Denver, U.S.A. — Pictures taken by once-blind cornea transplant recipients make up a new art exhibit that’s scheduled to open November 16, 2012 in Denver. The Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank asked cornea transplant recipients to participate in its Circle of Light Photo Project by taking and submitting pictures of what they’re grateful to see with restored vision. Many of the photos collected will be exhibited at Artwork Network, located at 878 Santa Fe Drive. They will remain on display through November 21. A free reception will be held on November 16 from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m.

This is the third annual Circle of Light Photo Project exhibit, which aims to show the impact eye, organ and tissue donation can have on our communities. The exhibit will also feature collaboration with the local community-based organization Art from Ashes. The organization seeks to empower at-risk youth through poetry therapy. Participants in the Rising Phoenix program at Art from Ashes created poems during an exercise that gave them the opportunity to experience simulated blindness. The poems inspired by the exercise will be on display alongside the exhibit’s photographs. To learn more about Art from Ashes, visit www.artfromashes.org.

Cornea transplants are a cure for corneal blindness, which accounts for about 10 percent of all blindness. Each year, approximately 600 people in Colorado and Wyoming receive sight-restorative transplants. The Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank facilitates the donation and transplantation of more than 1,500 corneas each year from donors in Colorado and Wyoming. Since 1982, RMLEB has facilitated more than 40,000 transplants.

Contrary to popular belief, eye donors do not need good eyesight. Even donors who were legally blind are able to help someone else through donation and transplantation of their eye tissue. Colorado and Wyoming residents can register to be eye, organ and tissue donors at the time of driver’s license renewal or online at www.DonateLifeColorado.org or www.DonateLifeWyoming.org. Registration forms will be available at the exhibit.

Cornea transplant recipients know better than anyone the impact eye, organ and tissue donation can have on the lives of others. Through this project, the recipients had a chance to give back, honor their donor and show the world just how big that impact is.

For additional information, visit www.circleoflightphotoproject.org.

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