Mother Versus Mother
2019
12:35 minutes
single-channel video, 4K UHD video, colour, no sound
Artist Statement
Like every other person, we all have a story to tell but sadly not everyone has a chance of feeling accepted in society.
This is the case of people who are deaf or hard of hearing. It starts when a child is born. Every parent have makes a big decision that may impact a child’s identity and stereotypes that happen due to bias from parents.
According to Deaf Australia, 95% deaf children are born with hearing parents in Australia. Only 11,682 people who use Auslan in Australia, according to Census 2016 data, but it is estimated there is more.
Research have shown that all children (even hearing) can communicate by signing before they can speak. Sign language does not make a person not wanting or unable to speak, yet can help with communication and language development.
Sign language involves not only the signs, but gestures and facial expressions.
For this proposal, I demonstrated this concept by using film involving no sound, but body language, movement, and different perspectives, and of course Auslan, which means Australian Sign Language.
Through filming I performed as the main characters of “Mother Versus Mother” (12:35 minutes duration), both as a hearing mother who speaks and as deaf mother who signs, recreating the same stage and timeline, and experiencing the same results, yet delivering different endings.
I know this experience so well, giving birth to a child and always worried about anything happening. As a deaf mother, I gave birth to a hard of hearing daughter. Before that, my hearing mother gave birth to a deaf daughter, myself. So that film mirrored the lives of my mother and I, who had different reactions, thoughts, and emotions about our child, and that changed the course of our daughter’s life.
Exhibitions
2020 “PLATFORM” Eastern Riverina Arts
2019 “End of Year Exhibition of Graduating and Continuing Students” St George College of Fine Arts, Kogarah
Awards
2020 Finalist, Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Arts Centre