In 2005 photographer Hannes Wallrafen suddenly noticed that the vision in his left eye was blurry. When it did not improve he went to the optician. A diagnosis was not long in coming: Leber’s Optic Atrophy (LOA), a rare inherited disorder of the optic nerve. The prognosis, vision of a few per cent at most or virtually blind, was unfortunately confirmed.
I started gathering my travel kit. My toothbrush, my pocketknife, and the compass grandpa gave me for Christmas; all the coins in my piggy bank, and, of course, my Fisher Price camera, so I could send them pictures of my adventures at the Egyptian pyramids.
Stories, the theme for this issue, are essential to human being. Simple as that: we cannot live without telling them to each other. They are the vehicles for our communication.