I’ve been Deaf since my early 20’s. Though I can and do use my voice to speak when needed, using ASL to communicate feels much more natural and makes communication so much clearer. Only about 20% of what you are trying to say is able to be read on your lips, so it’s a lot of guesswork.
For years, I’ve studied the artwork of fellow Deaf artists like Susan Dupor and Chuck Baird for inspiration, though it has taken me a long time to figure out how I can incorporate the themes of Deaf View/Image Art into my own personal painting practice.
Deaf View/Image Art is also known as De’VIA.
The 4 Elements of De’VIA:
De Deaf & Deaf-Blind Expression of Affirmation, Resistance, and Liberation
V View of how Deaf & Deaf-Blind experience the world
I Images/Motifs/Symbols of the Deaf Experience
A Art, Activism, Aesthetics, and Authentic Expressions of the Deaf Experience
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In the following painting and mural concept titled “LOVE” in ASL and “Both, Neither, Whole” in English, I am showing a non-binary human expressing their love of trees, of the mushrooms growing on them that have multiple sexes, proving that every kind of gender, every kind of sex, is just as real and true a part of nature as it is humankind. The sky is a rainbow blur of validation and color. The trees, a deciduous and a coniferous, don’t always grow together like this, but when they do, it’s magic—it’s two typically different beings sharing their life together, as everyone should always have the freedom to do. LOVE is the greatest gift—to feel and to share.
FLYING OWL PAINTING 