Coffin Door II

Abstract

Painted after the Gallaudet University uprising against the appointment of a hearing president.. The coffin door is a famed architectural feature of the Kappa Gamma fraternity, which Williams joined as an undergraduate. Legend has it that going through the door meant bad luck. However, here Williams reverses the myth: the door is a solid fixture in the landscape and is immovable. The students have won; a deaf president has been named for the first time in school’s history. The phantom-like doors call up the future and a new beginning for deaf people.

Creator

Harry R. Williams

Title

Coffin Door II

Date

Irvine, 1990

Medium

Oil

Description

A bright orange door in the shape of a coffin standing up-right on a shore of a beach. There are waves crashing ashore. In the back ground there are four other transparent doors that are slightly ajar.

Rights

Reproduced from Deaf Art Note Card Series: Works of Harry R. Williams
Courtesy of DawnSignPress

Citation

Harry R. Williams , “Coffin Door II,” RIT/NTID Dyer Arts Center , accessed March 28, 2024, https://dyerartscenter.omeka.net/items/show/484.