When silence becomes golden: Unique art show at Bengaluru features deaf artists

Held in connection with the International Day of Sign Languages, Beyond Signs: Power of Gestures at Chitrakala Parishath features eight artists

Deaf artist Vivek Kumar’s sculpture, ‘If freedom could speak’, screams volumes about the art as well as the artist. In place of a mouth, the sculpture features an Ashoka Chakra which symbolises freedom, movement and progress. 

For Kumar, who hails from Gaya that is thought of as the birthplace of Buddhism, it’s also a metaphor for a deeply personal everyday experience. 

“We try to lipread to understand what hearing-people are communicating. When we lip read again and again, it feels like lots of lines moving in circular motion, like an Ashoka Chakra,” he explains. 

“Even though I’m deaf, I can still hear the buzzing laughter and these hues of freedom,” writes the Lalit Kala Akademy award winner in the description that follows his sculpture.  

It would be one of the displays at ‘Beyond Signs: Power of Gestures’, an art exhibition at Chitrakala Parishath featuring eight deaf artists. Held in connection with the International Day of Sign Languages it is open to the public from September 20 to 22 and is presented by EnAble India.  

Towards a bigger dream

“I have seen a lot of exhibitions and met so many coordinators, but I’ve never met a person with disability, especially a deaf person, curating or coordinating these events,” notes Hardeep Singh, artist and multimedia designer at MAP. 

He believes the exhibition would help to break barriers, provide more exposure to artists like him who see the world through a ‘deaf lens’ and inspire more people with disabilities to pursue art. His work, ‘Fragmented Faces’, will be featured at the exhibition. 

The curator of the exhibition, Dr. Alim Chandani, has been a long-term advocate of Deaf individual rights.   

“Expression is something that is very difficult for deaf people. Years of oppression, lack of safe space for communication, absence of people who can empathise or understand, an education that is not on par in terms of providing accessibility, language deprivation... it’s all very heavy on them.” 

“How we interpret what they are saying is one thing. But for them to be able to express what they have felt, their emotions and oppression, is through art. I think it’s important that we foster it and find a way of communication through art.” 

An exhibition for all

While art provides a medium of expression for those like Singh and Kumar, often, it can be highly exclusive leaving out those with disabilities.  

For example, it’s not often that an art exhibition takes into consideration blind people and provides audio descriptions. Deaf artists are more than often denied opportunities by organisers who find them ‘expensive’ as they would require interpreters. 

“As a curator for me the challenge is to make it accessible for all disabilities. How do I make sure people with visual impairment also get access? How do I ensure that wheelchair users have access? Where should the painting be placed so that they can access it? Every material and content need to be translated into ISL (Indian Sign Language),” notes Chandani who also consults for EnAble India’s ‘Hear a Million’ initiative. 

According to the exhibition organisers, audio descriptions for blind people, visual cues, volunteers to guide, tools and solutions to support communication between people with different kinds of disabilities and support for language translation have been incorporated. The exhibits have been positioned so as to be accessible for wheelchair users and children.  

“It has been overwhelming, but it’s also good practice for other exhibitions to take this model forward,” Chandani says. 

Accessibility and equity

Varsha Badal, an artist who is into print making, is one of the eight being featured at the exhibition. A deaf person herself, she has been teaching for the last eight years and notes that exclusion is a reality even today despite all the big talks about inclusion.  

“When I work with children, sometimes I see that they are not able to express what they want to share. They don’t have that medium. Once they have strong visuals and understand the right processes, they can grow, showcase their ideas and explain what art means to them,” she notes. 

However, she points out that absence of interpreters in schools and workshops and the refusal of higher authorities to understand their importance make it challenging. Chandani adds to this noting that information shortage and inaccessibility is a real issue for deaf artists. 

“We have a lot of deaf artists. But they don’t get that kind of access or opportunity that hearing people do. They have to work twice or thrice as hard as hearing people to get full access or information,” he notes. 

The power of gestures

For a world that has designed its sytems to favour the abled ones, inclusion is easier said than done. There are more than 10 million deaf people in India, but only about 400 sign language interpreters, Chandani points out. The gap is glaringly wide.  

But a cultural aspect that’s unique to Indians holds the potential to narrow this gap, he feels. This is the abundant usage of gestures during conversations. Not many know that several of the common gestures used in everyday conversations in India also feature in the Indian Sign language. 

For example, the gesture used for ‘food’ and the ISL sign for it are similar. The action used to point to places is another one. Similar is the case with words such as ‘wait’, ‘what’, ‘slim’, ‘young’, ‘pray’ and many more. 

“A lot of people in India actually uses gestures. There is the influence of these gestures on ISL as well. It’s a strong cultural influence. If people can see ISL is not something that is used only within our community and there are a lot of common gestures being used everywhere, it might help them to connect and inspire to learn ISL,” says Chandani, who believes that learning basics of sign language is being inclusive.

The interactive exhibition will offer visitors tools to learn the basics of ISL.

What can stakeholders do?

What further can be done to ensure inclusivity? 

Number one is consultation, says Srivatsan Sankaran, a Chennai-based travel photographer who is participating in the exhibition.  

“Consult with the community when you design accessibility. The second thing is the ease in terms of accessing information. There should be a flexible framework for accessibility that should be upgraded as time progresses and technology improves,” he notes. 

“Another important aspect is digital accessibility. These include captions, voice-to-text, and so on. Government should focus on recent technologies and frameworks instead of outdated ones. It should be very dynamic,” he adds. 

Chandani adds to it saying a one-size- fits-all approach might not work.  

“Access is different for different people. We have to think of how accessibility can be ensured for everyone. I know it’s not easy, it’s very hard. A hearing person once told me persons with disabilities are so expensive. Is it my fault that I am disabled? I know it’s hard work for you, but we are already working double or triple hard to achieve access.” 

‘Power of Gestures’ feature Archana Timmaraju, Ashwin Babu, Hardeep Singh, Himanshu Kansal, Janhavi Khemka, Srivatsan Sankaran, Varsha Badal and Vivek Kumar, and is open to public from Sept 20-22.

Published - September 20, 2024 09:00 am IST