I have often feared what I would do if I lost the use of my hands. A friend once joked that if I couldn’t move my hands that I couldn’t talk effectively because I make so many motions with them when I talk. But all jokes aside, not being able to draw would be really difficult to deal with and even worse, just imagine the complete loss of movement in the entire body to an artist. This is exactly what happened to Tony Quan, a graffiti who was diagnosed with ALS in 2003, who helped in the development of the Eyewriter. This amazing discovery has allowed Tony to create graffiti art from the comfort of his bed that can then be projected onto a surface in any location.

Text from the Eyewriter website, “Members of Free Art and Technology (FAT), OpenFrameworks, the Graffiti Research Lab, and The Ebeling Group communities have teamed-up with a legendary LA graffiti writer, publisher and activist, named Tony Quan, aka TEMPTONE. Tony was diagnosed with ALS in 2003, a disease which has left him almost completely physically paralyzed… except for his eyes. This international team is working together to create a low-cost, open source eye-tracking system that will allow ALS patients to draw using just their eyes. The long-term goal is to create a professional/social network of software developers, hardware hackers, urban projection artists and ALS patients from around the world who are using local materials and open source research to creatively connect and make eye art.”

images via eyewriter