The woman who refused to put down her brush
Priscilla Stevenson's art is currently on display at Mbango Retirement Village.
What would you stop doing if you could no longer see? Every day, older people hear the diagnosis: macular degeneration. Most think first about what they will lose.
As central vision slowly disappears, so do many of life’s pleasures. Reading becomes difficult. Driving comes to an end. Faces blur. Painting, needlework, photography and even pouring a cup of tea become daily challenges.
Add hands that tremble with a mind of their own, and most would quietly pack away the things they love.
But eighty-five-year-old Priscilla Stevenson chose a different response.
Despite rapidly deteriorating eyesight, she has opened an exhibition of her paintings at the coffee shop in Mbango Valley Retirement Village near Port Shepstone.
An artist whose vision is failing has invited others to look closely at her work. That takes courage.
Every brushstroke now demands patience, concentration and determination, yet she refuses to let her circumstances define the boundaries of her life.
As an occupational therapist, Priscilla spent her career helping people living with disability rediscover purpose and independence. Today, she is living the lessons she spent a lifetime teaching.
Although she painted from a young age, it was only after retirement that art became a central part of her life.
Macular degeneration has changed the way she paints. Colours are bolder. Details are fewer. Precision has given way to instinct.
She knows these paintings are different from those she produced years ago. But instead of putting away her brushes, she is finding another way to do what she loves.
“Learning to paint in a different way has given me a new level of confidence,” she says. “For me it is more than producing beautiful art. It shapes my days, connects me with others, and keeps me active.”
Her exhibition is not really about art. It is about resilience. It is about refusing to surrender the activities that give life meaning.
As I walked through the exhibition, I realised the paintings tell two stories. One is visible on the canvas. The other is the quiet story of a woman adapting, rather than giving up.
I left with one question that has stayed with me: “What have you stopped doing because you think you can’t?”
Perhaps that is the real masterpiece hanging on the walls of that little coffee shop.
Not the paintings themselves. But the woman who refuses to put down her brush.
* Priscilla Stevenson’s art is on display at the coffee shop in Mbango Retirement Village. It is open to the public from Tuesday to Friday from 09:00 to 16:00.
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