My Hearing Aids
Abstract
This collage painting exhibits audism, oppression, ban of sign language, forced speech therapy sessions, and discrimination against deaf people. Many Deaf children and adults felt uncomfortable wearing hearing aids all the time. The color of hearing aids is gray monochrome because many deaf people lost their identity when wearing it.
Creator
Neena Suresh
Title
My Hearing Aids
Date
2018
Medium
Acrylic painting and collage on canvas panel
Description
A black and white hearing aid placed in the middle of the collage painting. The colors of the background are blue, some of yellow, blueish green and black.
Each label has words on it - “Oh, you poor thing I will pray for you”, “Never mind, I will tell you later”, “REPEAT AFTER ME! A, E, I, O, U…”, “Dumb”, “I am warning you no sign language!”, “SPEAK UP!”, “SPEAK ONLY”, “STOP HANDS MOVING!”, “WHY CAN NOT YOU UNDERSTAND?”, “You sound weird!”, “Deaf and Mute”, “NO GESTURE HERE.”, “STUPID”, “STOP CRYING”, “Oh, you are deaf! I am so sorry.”, “NO SIGN LANGUAGE!”, “WHY DIDN’T YOU PRACTICE SPEAKING AT HOME?”, “DID YOU WEAR HEARING AID AT HOME?”, “SIGN LANGUAGE IS BAD!”, “OH, YOU CAN TALK!”, “Can you lip reading?”.
Each label has words on it - “Oh, you poor thing I will pray for you”, “Never mind, I will tell you later”, “REPEAT AFTER ME! A, E, I, O, U…”, “Dumb”, “I am warning you no sign language!”, “SPEAK UP!”, “SPEAK ONLY”, “STOP HANDS MOVING!”, “WHY CAN NOT YOU UNDERSTAND?”, “You sound weird!”, “Deaf and Mute”, “NO GESTURE HERE.”, “STUPID”, “STOP CRYING”, “Oh, you are deaf! I am so sorry.”, “NO SIGN LANGUAGE!”, “WHY DIDN’T YOU PRACTICE SPEAKING AT HOME?”, “DID YOU WEAR HEARING AID AT HOME?”, “SIGN LANGUAGE IS BAD!”, “OH, YOU CAN TALK!”, “Can you lip reading?”.
Citation
Neena Suresh, “My Hearing Aids,” RIT/NTID Dyer Arts Center , accessed April 19, 2024, https://dyerartscenter.omeka.net/items/show/620.