"I've decided to submit my art to a certain contest for Deaf people this year and this is my submission.
The rule says:
The artwork must focus on the Deaf experience or reflect the minority experience.
Must include a written or videotaped statement explaining the artwork.
Medium: any. (two dimensional only)
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This is my written statement (unedited, but will be edited before sending):
I grew up as a Deaf child in two different cultures every day, lived half in one and half in another. My days are like this; Deaf school, deaf friends, hearing home environment, hearing brother to argue with and hearing family’s birthdays and holidays to go to. I also struggled with identity to which culture I belonged to. The Deaf culture often ridiculed me because I could speak real well and have a hearing family while the hearing culture look down to me, pitying me that I can’t hear and leaving me out of the conversations that floated everywhere around me.
As I grew older and made my way into the real world, I begin to understand and found my identity. I see children everywhere that also experienced my experience, met adults that went though the same thing I have gone through. I found that I walked the line in between two cultures. I do not call the two cultures worlds because we all live in one world together. They, the two parts of my life are cultures that I walk hand in hand, a line in between, neither accepted or rejected.
Working with children in public school, in classrooms for the Deaf, I fell into the role of a bridge that connected two cultures. By day, I worked and help the students to learn, grow and find that they can achieve their dreams, and by the evening, I raise a hearing son, helped parents of the deaf children to understand their children and go out into the community filled with both deaf and hearing.
My experiences, my understanding, and my contribution to the people around me placed me in one world with two cultures and that’s who I am.
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I understand that it may be a bit of a hard comprehension for most of you about what I've done in this art...
It's pretty much a self-portrait of myself, being in two different cultures my whole life, the Deaf culture and the Hearing culture. On the right side are the hearing side and the left being Deaf.
You may notice the people on the right's eyes aren't darker while the Deaf's mouths aren't darker...
This is my impression that I am trying to implicit here; the Deaf uses their eyes to hear and their hands to speak while the Hearing uses their ears to hear and their mouth to speak.
While I stand in between, holding a world in my hands, I walk and live in both, a line in between as I have mentioned in my statement above.
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Done on watercolor paper with watercolor.
Took me maybe 5-8 hours in total over the span of a week and half.
I'll let you know how this piece of art goes in the contest in few months."
