Visual Instincts

During October 2008, 17 to 31, New South Wales Association of The Deaf [NSWAD], staged a Deaf Arts Festival, during what has become National Week Of Deaf People [NWDP] – if I got this wrong, you can correct me.

The Deaf Arts Festival has been running for a few years now, and its focus is the visual arts. Admittedly, I went along with the expectation of something big and exciting. This is not to say I was disappointed, but, yeah, I was expecting more.

Still, two works blew me away. The first one [can't help but catch your eye as you walk into the exhibition] a mural of the Auslan Alphabet.

Too big for such a small space. It really needs to be out there where the public can see it. Such as this. To give you some idea of its size, here’s a picture taken at the opening:

The other work was a short film by Phillip Debs [whom I know from years back] a photographer and filmmaker. The piece that was submitted is called “Torture”, and according to a friend, was filmed using a mobile phone.

I’m trying to get hold of the original footage, and maybe samples of his other work [which, if are as good as this, we are looking at a Deaf Tarantino!]. Where many Deaf are content to explore themes that stay on the nice side of the visual experience, “Torture” is sharp, taut, aggressive and in your face [perhaps that's why it appealed to me].  Which is a nice contrast to all this nicety that threatens to overwhelm.

I know there are many talented Deaf artists out there, but Phillip Debs, is the first [in a long time, that I've seen] that pitches his work, both stylistically and intellectually on par with Hearing artists.

I would have loved to present you with more photos from the exhibition, but alas, my lazy arse prevented me from giving into my motivation! But I managed to salvage two more decent images from the NSWAD newsletter Silent Messenger.

PLEASE NOTE:

All images by NSWAD, and were extracted from the newsletter Silent Messenger [which was in PDF form].