‘I see things in very short bursts’: blind painter Bianca Raffaella on her explosive still lifes – and being mentored by Tracey Emin

‘Hands are a great tool’ … Raffaella with her works. Photograph: Antonio Parente

Bianca Raffaella is showing me the huge canvases she has painted for her debut solo show Faint Memories when a strange realisation hits me. I can see these beautiful depictions of petals and stems in their full, widescreen splendour – and she can’t.

The 32-year-old was born with congenital toxoplasmosis and is registered blind: her vision is largely limited to her left eye, through which she can only see things closer than a metre and for brief moments of time. “When I back away from a painting, I never see it in full,” says Raffaella. “I work really close and I will see things for a fraction of a second and then it’s lost.”