Meaghan Murphy
Captured by François Mittins
Losing Sight, Finding Clarity
In this talk, Meaghan Murphy reflects on losing control, rebuilding her life, and finding clarity through uncertainty.
Just days before leaving for her honeymoon, Meaghan was diagnosed with bilateral retinal detachment, a condition that threatened her vision and forced her to step away from her role as Creative Director at MDASH. What followed was a year of emergency procedures, invasive surgeries, recovery, and the disorienting experience of suddenly losing the structure and momentum she had built her life around.
At the same time, another future was quietly unfolding. Alongside her partner Matias, Meaghan became deeply involved in transforming a long-abandoned Centretown building into what would eventually become Phono, Ottawa’s hi-fi listening lounge and event space.
As her health continued to shift through failed treatments, repeated surgeries, and long stretches away from work, Meaghan found herself caught between fear, uncertainty, and an unexpected creative reawakening. Through building Phono, she began rethinking her relationship to ambition, control, and what success actually looked like.
She closes by reflecting on how losing her vision ultimately changed the way she saw her life, leading her toward a future she never planned for, but one that felt far more aligned with who she had become.
fono613.ca
@heymeagh
