Proud to be Deaf - Mural Unveiling
We are delighted to unveil a wonderful new piece of artwork create by young people from Deafness Resource Centre, created as part of our Lottery funded Communities of Wonder project; Proud to be Deaf.
The group of young people aged 6 - 19 worked with Deaf artist Christopher Sacre to create a mural and garden ornaments for their beautiful community courtyard.
They began by creating bright wonky face self-portraits and discussing mural themes - nature and the importance of signing to the Deaf community. They painted pebbles and copied early mural sketches onto clear plastic acetates, which were projected onto the hall wall to finalise the final design. They painted canvases showing some of the barriers to the Deaf community and how proud they were to be Deaf. One boy wrote this on his canvas and agreed Proud to be Deaf would be a good project name.
Next, they crafted bunting, painted bird boxes, flowerpots, wooden hearts and pot labels. Everyone got a chance to paint the mural.
The Proud to be Deaf project has been an exciting opportunity for young people to learn new skills and explore issues important to them through different forms of art. They have found enjoyable ways to express thoughts and feelings creatively in a fun, interactive way.
From conception to final product, the project has been led by young people, tackling the themes that they told us were important to them:
What it means to be Deaf in a hearing world
Nature
Positivity
The young people have created a wonderful artistic experience and statement which they are delighted to share.
Check out our other Communities of Wonder Projects here
“Having a positive Deaf role model facilitating the sessions has made a huge impact. We saw the confidence in communicating grow in some young people and parents/ carers commented on the difference. It is always important for us to show our D/deaf children and young people that they can do anything and become anything they aspire too, and not to allow their deafness to hold them back. Seeing a working professional artist who was deaf and used sign language gave them the opportunity to understand that they can achieve their goals if they want to.”