Silence Has A Lot To Say Painting

This painting is a visual way for me to explain my experience in the world as a deaf person. The hand pointing to the ear is representative of my life in one of the two worlds I feel like I live in. The ‘hearing’ world - where there is no Auslan access, and I am forced to use the hearing that I do have (although I am a deaf person) and try to lipread and understand what is being said. The other world that I live in is the deaf world, where I can communicate in Auslan and I feel as though I can really can express myself properly and clearly. People understand me and it is so much more comfortable for me to be in the deaf world. Each handshape coming from my mouth is representing a sign that I wanted to show through my painting. The first handshape is how I feel like its just a joke sometimes and pure frustration trying to communicate with people. Another handshape is me trying to struggle through and remember it doesn’t matter, things seem more possible and easier when I communicate through using Auslan - the silence really does have a lot to say. The colourful shapes in this piece are my way of explaining the struggle I still have in many ways, even though I have found the deaf world, I still have a lot to learn about the language and myself, it can be exhausting trying to fit in. Another way I try to fit in is by lipreading, it’s like a giant puzzle and I am constantly trying to work out what is being said to me. The yellow circle at the top resembles the jumble that I sometimes see on a persons lips, it really can be incredibly tiresome.

Painting:Acrylic on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:39.4 W x 39.4 H x 1.2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.