The Deaf Milieu W
Supporting Deaf Culture through Architectural Design
KIMBERLY RICE
To the school that strengthened me, To the professors who inspired me, To my family for their unconditional love, To my friends for their endless support,
Thank You.
002.
The Deaf Milieu Supporting Deaf Culture through Architectural Design
KIMBERLY RICE The University of South Florida
School of Architecture and Community Design A master’s research project presented to the Graduate School of Architecture and Community Design at The University of South Florida in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Architecture.
High Falls, Rochester, New York
MASTER’S PROJECT CHAIR Nancy Sanders
Associate Professor at The University of South Florida
MASTER’S PROJECT COMMITTEE Steve Cooke
Associate Professor at The University of South Florida
Nina Hofer
Professor at The University of Florida
Bill Lavigne
Professor at The National Technical Institute of The Deaf
Natalie Belcik + Carol Hudson
ASL Teachers at Bartram Trail High School
Figure 0001.
The Deaf Milieu Supporting Deaf Culture through Architectural Design
High Falls Wall Detail, Rochester, New York
Figure 0002.
Abstract
Sight, sound, taste, smell, touch, temperature, pain, balance, and awareness all affect one’s relationship to architecture. But what happens when one of these senses are lost? The intent is to discover the balance of sensory loss through architecture with studies of the Deaf Community. This specific community not only has its own culture and way of life but also a dire need for accessibility and gratification within architecture. For instance, those who can hear are able to talk within tight or narrow corridors. In contrast, the Deaf Community has difficulty signing to each other in small spaces because it is needed for them to see the entire group they are signing with. Therefore, there is a need for larger social interaction spaces and circulation when communicating in American Sign Language. The final product will be able to be implemented into many geographical locations and cultures by way of the fluid language of the senses. I will conduct physical studies of the senses while finding case studies of buildings that interact well with a person’s senses. My research will give me insight into the accessibility of architecture for those with sensory loss and will also inspire ways to provide an enjoyable relationship when designing spaces. My result will be a relatable entity of architecture bridging both the hearing world and the Deaf Community by the notion of the human senses.
006.
‘‘
m i · l i e u
/mil.yo.o,mil.yə(r)/
the people and the
physical and social
conditions and events
that provide a background
in which someone acts or lives. For Example:
The Irish-Catholic
milieu of Chicago [a cultural milieu]
Table of Contents Acknowledgments + Introduction + Abstract
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Table of Contents
008.
Final Presentation Jury
0 10.
The Senses
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Sense of Place / Sensory Design / Sensory Art
Film Best and Most Beautiful Things / Shoulder The Lion / Silent Child / Deaf Jam
Deaf Culture Deaf and Blind / Deaf Culture / Deaf Poetry / Deaf Art / Deaf Social Media
American Sign Language Long Exposure Photos / The Alphabet / Hand Details / Abstract Models
Rochester, New York Rochester Culture / NTID / Ashley Hannan / Rochester Deaf Atlas / High Falls
The Deaf Milieu at High Falls High Falls / Thermal Spa / Pedestrian Bridge / The Poetry Center / Final Models
List of Figures + Works Cited
0 3 0. 040. 054. 0 70. 082. 118.
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10 am in Jury Room 4 of USF SACD on April 5, 2019.
Hello. Good morning. Thank you all for coming. My name is Kim Rice. My Masters Project analyzes how Deaf Culture can be supported through architecture.
This is my interpreter, Tony Rooks. He will be interpreting
my presentation in American Sign Language [ASL].
I began my thesis 18 years ago when I learned ASL
to communicate with my best friend’s little sister. Due to her tracheal issues she could not speak, but through the intricate language of ASL she could.
During my high school education, I furthered my
knowledge of American Sign Language. I fell in love with the sense of community and the intricate, spatial language even more.
As an ode to my passion of Deaf Culture and the tectonic
language, I devoted my thesis to discovering how Deaf Culture can be supported by Architecture. My goal became creating an enjoyable relationship with Architecture even with hearing loss.
Final Presentation Jury
To do this I set out to create visibility of the cultural struggles and hardships within Deaf Culture. Most importantly easing the idea of public space anxiety in the “hearing world” for those who are Deaf or hard of hearing.
The first part of my research focused on the senses and
their affect and relationship to the built environment. I found that one’s sense of place is ultimately due to one’s senses interacting with physical entities. Because of this, sensory design is crucial, and we must design to create spaces and materials to support and stimulate them. This can be seen in existing sensory art exhibits and museums. Here visitors can come and interact with art pieces to get a full experience and interaction with all their senses.
A quote that I feel sums up my studies of the senses is
from my essential precedent study: “The body knows and remembers. Architectural meaning derives from archaic responses and reactions remembered by the body and the senses.” - Juhani Pallasmaa,
The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses.
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I set out to explore this sensory relationship
through film and how it can be related to Deaf and Blind Culture. Out of the 20 films I chose to study I focused on these 4 films more in depth: The Best and Most Beautiful Things, Shoulder
the Lion, The Silent Child, and Deaf Jam.
The Best and Most Beautiful Things is a film about a
20-year-old blind woman who searches to find a voice for her community. She attends Perkins School for the Blind, then goes on to find independence and freedom.
Shoulder the Lion is a film about three artists: An award-
winning blind photographer, a successful deaf musician, and a talented sculpturist with multiple sensory losses.
The Silent Child is a film about a four year old girl with a
cochlear implant who is unable to communicate with her family due to her deafness. Her mother hires a tutor believing her child is unwilling to learn and the tutor begins to teach her American Sign Language. The girl soon begins to excel both with spoken English and with ASL, as she is immersed in her own culture. This film gives light to the importance and usefulness of the simultaneous use of ASL and spoken English.
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Deaf Jam is a film that follows students at a Deaf high
school that learn to express their personal struggles through Deaf Poetry. The film shows the significant importance of poetry as a community event and gathering within Deaf culture.
These films brought me to narrow my focus to Deaf
culture. My three main precedent studies include Deaf Poetry, Deaf Art, and American Sign Language. Following the film Deaf Jam, I researched more Deaf poetry artists and found a wide range on Youtube. Some being simple signed poems and others using visual arts connected to the motion of their hands. I found that art and social media was a significant part of Deaf Culture that I never knew of. Artists like Nancy Rourke used their visual voice to portray the cultural concerns of the Deaf community. The painting in Figure 0003 [and page 50] is Rourke’s painting Birth of a Deaf Child. “The painting is about a mother, who
10/22/2018
Nancy Rourke Paintings — Birth of a Deaf Child
is about to give birth to a Deaf child. Whether she is hearing
Home Paintings Biography Email to Nancy Shows More paintings: Year 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 28 Days in February Project
or Deaf, she cherishes a Deaf child regardless, and her body
Birth of a Deaf Child
is filled with happiness that shows all the primary colors. The colors reflect on Deafhood. A Deaf baby is very precious. The woman here is signing ‘Birth.’”
Figure 0003.
Birth of a Deaf Child 16 inch by 20 inch oil on stretched canvas $350 click on image. Description about the painting:
Day 4 of 28 Days in February Project This painting is inspired by Betty G. Miller's painting, "Birth of a Deaf Woman." The painting is about a mother, who is about to give birth of a Deaf child. Whether she is hearing or Deaf, she cherishes a Deaf child regardless. And her body is filled with happiness that shows all of the primary colours. https://www.nancyrourke.com/birthofadeafchild.htm
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These visual arts brought my focus to the tectonic and
spatial communication of ASL. There are five foundational rules to the vocabulary. Handshape, movement, palm orientation, location, and facial expression. ASL is spatially extensive. Everyone included in the conversation must have visual contact with everyone. Placement of objects and people are used. There is no way to walk into a conversation and understand who or what is the subject unless it is explained again. Depending on one’s palm orientation, a word can have multiple meanings. But most importantly
Figure 0004.
in the expressive communication, facial emotion is key.
To bring distinction to this complexity, I
began to photograph myself signing with a long exposure time to express this sense of space required, shown in Figure 0004 [and page 58]. Then, I wanted to create something everyone could look at and understand. I chose to photograph the beautiful movement
Figure 0005.
of the ASL alphabet, as seen in Figure 0005 [and page 60]. The hand is the most important part to Deaf culture and I set out to capture the intricate details of something we all have yet overlook [Figure 0006 and page 62]. Figure 0006.
Final Presentation Jury
To bring this into a three dimensional understanding and appreciation, I created a model spelling out ‘Deaf’ in ASL, seen in Figure 0007 [and page 64]. I then began two models to bring to light the public
Figure 0007.
space anxiety of the hearing world into a three dimensional sculptural expression. These are seen in Figures 0008 and ooo9 [and pages 66 and 68]. Gradually these models have broken off, have been chipped away at, are heavy yet fragile, and sometimes sway in uneasiness.
Figure 0008.
To bring my thesis to a point of an
architectural nature, I began to study the populations of those who are Deaf in the US and where they reside. What you may not know is that the Deaf community tends to create homes in clusters around schools or universities catered to their needs. I found that Rochester, New York had one of the largest percentages of Deaf individuals to their population.
Figure 0009.
Upon traveling to the city of Rochester, I found there was a wide range of facilities, organizations, and schools that were specialized for the community. But these are spread
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out through the city, and there is not a space for community events, let alone any spaces within the city center. The largest space for community gatherings is The National Technical Institute for the Deaf at The Rochester Institute of Technology. Here even an isolation exists with a clear distinction of NTID and RIT buildings. At the NTID buildings, the architect implemented visual openness and opaqueness, diffused lighting, wide curved corridors, acute angled auditorium seating, and large interior balconies all to support Deaf culture through architecture. These elements also align with the principals of DeafSpace, an architectural guideline for spaces for the Deaf by Gallaudet University, the largest Deaf university in the US. “These practical acts of making a DeafSpace are long-held cultural traditions that, while never-before formally recognized, are the basic elements of an architectural expression unique to deaf experiences. The study of DeafSpace offers valuable insights about the interrelationship between the senses, the ways we construct the built environment and cultural identity from which society at large has much to learn. In 2005 architect Hansel Bauman (hbhm architects) established the DeafSpace Project (DSP) in conjunction with the ASL Deaf Studies Department at Gallaudet University. Over the next five years, the DSP developed the DeafSpace Guidelines, a catalogue of over one hundred and fifty distinct DeafSpace architectural design elements that address the five major touch points between deaf experiences and the built environment: space and proximity, sensory reach, mobility and proximity, light and color, and finally acoustics. Common to all of these categories are the ideas of community building, visual language, the promotion of personal safety and well-being.� [DeafSpace, Gallaudet].
Final Presentation Jury During my visit to NTID I discovered a Deaf artist, Ashley Hannan. Now a Tampa resident, Ashley is a NTID alumni. Her paintings truly imbody the conceptual meaning of my project. The piece in Figure 0010 [and page 76] is titled You See Me from The Rise Up: Silent Margins Series at NTID. Ashley’s description for this piece reads as:
“I fell ill at 10 days old but was finally diagnosed with
deafness at 15 months. Though I have been Deaf all my life, I never felt like I belonged anywhere. Not
even in the Deaf world during my youth. It was not Figure 0010.
until college, after enrolling at RIT that I took notice
of the diversity that exists in the Deaf world. It was not all just the same as I had known prior to college. However, I still struggled with my Deaf identity. There were years I felt ashamed, disgusted, and
depressed because I have been told I am “not deaf enough” or even given the impression I am “not hearing enough” to relate to anything
and anyone. True friendships are rare. It is rare when you can find someone that is in the same boat as you. The real challenge came after college when everyone parted ways. Then the Deaf communities
get harder to find and even harder to fit in. Many Deaf communities have already formed their own cliques and are often wary to accept any newer friends into their groups. In my thirties, I found a few Deaf
friends who are not cochlear implant users and are not speakers,
but strong in ASL. They took me under their wing and helped me
understand that even though we all come from different walks of life, we still have the same struggles. They finally saw and understood me.
It is cathartic to finally be understood which has helped me further embrace my own unique Deaf identity.”
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It was truly her work that inspired me to design for that
sense of anxiety of going into the hearing world.
This led me to choose my site of High Falls. A 96 foot
waterfall just on the edge of the city center of Downtown Rochester. The waterfall was recognized as early as 1807 as having the potential to generate enough hydro-power to support a settlement. Not only does this site get tourist and local visibility but also embodies a full sensory experience. Upon walking the waterfall, I came across the original historical faรงade from the Gorsline Building, which was left exposed as a memory of the industrial history of High Falls. You can see the bones of the building here. I was amazed at the structure and the proximity to the waterfall. My favorite part of the site were the textures and materiality. The warm copper hues within the bricks and facades gave me warmth in the single digit weather. The sea foam green of the structure created a harmonious language with the landscape.
To interact with the site as well as my previous research
and concept, I came up a sequence of three entities called The Rochester Deaf Milieu.
Final Presentation Jury
The three main components are The Thermal Spa, a
Pedestrian Bridge, and The Poetry Center.
The Thermal Spa, seen in Figure 0011
[and Page 92], contains four main alcoves, a hot spring, a large grand relaxation stair touching the Figure 0011.
exsisting water, and circulation by a grand spiral stair and a pulley mechanical elevator.
The Pedestrian Bridge, seen in Figure
0012 [and Page 96], is an organic symbiosis with the landscape that balances from the safety of before Figure 0012.
the drop to cantilever over the edge above the loud and shaking drop of the waterfall. The bridge circulates around the historical Gorsline Building faรงade, out to water again, for a lookout pier containing seating.
The Poetry Center, seen in Figure 0013[and
Page 100], is an intervention within the historical Gorsline Building faรงade and bones; honoring its Figure 0013.
history, but challenging a new beginning. The program of the Poetry Center is a main lobby on the ground floor, bringing you down a grand stair or a double elevator
018.
into the first underground floor where a study or community gathering space overlooks a large double floor circular library. Circulating around is the large auditorium. Then further down the wide hallway, is the lobby for the artist housing, containing four units. Circulating down into the second underground floor, either by way of the artist housing stair or the main lobby circulation, is the large double floor circular library, an office space, a small auditorium, and the other two units of the artists’ housing.
Overall, The Rochester Deaf Milieu creates a city center
space for not only the Rochester Deaf community events and gatherings but provides a space for all Deaf individuals. These spaces embody the principles set forth by Gallaudet by using curves, acute angles, and lighting to enhance the experience. But most importantly, the materiality and color palate enhances and supports one’s senses. The product becomes a relatable entity of design that bridges the cultural weighing of transitional periods within Deaf cultural into the hearing world.
I would like to conclude with a statement from the
painting Yearning for Facility by Ashley Hannan:
Final Presentation Jury “Like a young plant, I emerged out of the “norm” that was
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laid out bef`ore me in search of release. Years of being tested with audiograms and speech therapy to “improve” my mode of communication left me yearning for more. I wanted more out
of my own facility, the natural ability to succeed as who I am.
Break free of what is expected of me from the “outside” world’s chess game.”
Thank you.
Figure 0014.
Final Presentation Jury Photo
020.
‘‘
the·senses /
s
e
n
s
/
a feeling or perception produced
through the organs of touch, taste, etc., or resulting from a particular
condition of some part of the body. For Example:
to have a sense of cold.
The Senses How sensory language relates to the built environment.
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Figure 0015.
Tuan, 1974; Ralph, 1976; Sense of Place Diagram
Sense of Place Anthropology: Setha Low, “Symbolic Ties that Bind: Place Attachments in the Plaza” “Place attachment is the symbolic relationship formed by people giving culturally shared emotional/affective meanings to a particular space of piece of land that provides the basis for the individual’s and group’s understanding of and relation to the environment. Thus, place attachment is more than an emotional and cognitive experience, and includes cultural beliefs and practices that link people to place.” Environmental Psychology: Fritz Steele, The Sense of Place “Sense of Place: the particular experience of a person in a particular setting (feeling stimulated, excited, joyous, expansive, and so forth).” “Spirit of Place: the combination of characteristics that gives some locations a special ‘feel’ or personality (such as a spirit of mystery or of identity with a person or group).” “Setting: a person’s immediate surroundings, including both physical and social elements.” Geography: Yi-Fu Tuan, Topophilia “Topophilia is the affective bond between people and place or setting.” Such ties vary in intensity, subtlety, and mode of expression. Responses to the environment may be aesthetic, tactile, or emotional. Landscape Architecture: John Brinckerhoff Jackson, A Sense of Place, a Sense of Time “A sense of place is something that we ourselves create in the course of time. It is the result of habit or custom.... A sense of place is reinforced by what might be called a sense of recurring events.” Sociology: David Hummon, “Community Attachment: Local Sentiment and Sense of Place” “By sense of place, I mean people’s subjective perceptions of their environments ant their more or less conscious feelings about those environments. Sense of place is inevitably dual in nature, involving both an interpretive perspective on the environment and an emotional reaction to the environment.... Sense of place involves a personal orientation toward place, in which ones’ understanding of place and one’s feelings about place become fused in the context of environmental meaning.” [Cross, What is Sense of Place?]
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Figure 0016.
Photo of Peter Zumthor’s Thermal Vals
Sensory Design Why sensory design? Reaching beyond vision, this project is a manifesto for an inclusive, multi-sensory design practice. Sensory design activates touch, sound, smell, taste, and the wisdom of the body. Sensory design supports everyone’s opportunity to receive information, explore the world, and experience joy, wonder, and social connections, regardless of our sensory abilities. [Lupton, Why sensory design?] Peter Zumthor’s Thermal Baths The Thermal Vals, [seen in Figure ooo3], located in the Graubunden region of Switzerland, is an extension to the original 1960’s hotel. The Vals seem rather at one with the natural surrounds, comfortably nestled within the mountain valley cleavage, and surrounded by the five existing hotel low-rises. From the front, the monolithic stone structure, with a number terraces and window opening faces reflecting, refracting and framing the mountain landscape. Convincingly appearing as though mother nature her selfhad once given birth through a contractual volcanic force upward. The immersive journey begins, by walking through the refurbished 1960’s hotel foyer, via a darkened tunnel, having a dislocating effect from the outside world into the reception area. The reception is illuminated by a blue a neon sign polished black floor and walls, whites filtered light from above. From this point, all mobile devices and cameras are banned. I believe this is an important part of being present, de-wired or clean from the continuum of mass media information. Passing through a turn-style into long a shadowy corridor, constructed in gneiss stone and concrete, and the calming sound of water trickling from several bronze faucets, echoing off the solid stone surface. The natural spring water has left traces of red and yellow down bluegrey stone canvas. To the left are several entrances covered by thick heavy black curtains, suspended by warm copper rings to a supportive black steel rode. I enter the appropriate change room for men, into a small warm intimate space. The lockers and a bench in the centre constructed in glossy reflective red mahogany, against the raw concrete walls, and black curtains at two entrance points, and soft warm lighting from above. This is the threshold, or transitional point from outside to inside. At this point one undergoes a change by removing the everyday cloths into a ritual primal connection between the naked skin, and the second skin, the architectural body. [Daley, The Therme Vals - A Complete Sensory Experience]
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Figure 0017.
“Active Textile” by MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab
Sensory Art “The Senses: Design Beyond Vision.” at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Curated by Ellen Lupton and Andrea Lipps and designed by NYC-based architecture firm Studio Joseph, the exhibition explores how sensory experiences can be expanded, as well as how sensory design can solve problems and improve everyday life for all people. Plus, audio and visual descriptions of the works will ensure the exhibition is enjoyable for visitors of all abilities. [My personal favorite,] “Active Textile” by MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab with Designtex and Steelcase features small perforations that open and close in response to changes in light or temperature [seen in Figure 0002]. [Testado, Cooper Hewitt’s sensory-focused exhibition] Vision is the most external and remote of the senses. We look at things that are apart from us, at some remove. By contrast, sounds vibrate inside us; smells inhabit us. We may not always be able to recall what some place looks like. But a smell can retrieve the memory for us. Touch, the anthropologist Ashley Montagu once wrote, is “the parent of our eyes, ears, nose and mouth,” tethering us to the world. You don’t have to read Proust to know that taste also speaks volumes. And our senses obviously commingle. Food has texture. That’s what those macadamia nuts and brown-butter wafers are doing in your mascarpone sundae. Subliminally, the tongue can even react to the sight of a polished stone. Sounds can register in your consciousness as colors, colors as tastes. (Picture the color of sour. It’s probably greenish.) That said, what the writer Italo Calvino described years ago as an “unending rainfall of images” has swelled into a deluge. Social media, smartphones and virtual reality have made us ever more “ocular-centric,” a term the Finnish designer Juhani Pallasmaa employed a generation ago to lament how dependent architects had become on digital animation. “Computer imaging tends to flatten our magnificent, multi-sensory, simultaneous and synchronic capacities of imagination by turning the design process into a passive visual manipulation, a retinal journal,” Mr. Pallasmaa argued. Designers, he said, shortchanged all the nonvisual ways we experience architecture — and through architecture, the fullness of life. In their recent book called “Are We Human?” the architects Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley even correlate this approach by modern architects to modern medicine’s painkilling drugs. Numb to other senses, ocular-centric architecture cultivates alienation. What does designing more sensitively for non-visual experience mean? [Testado, Cooper Hewitt]
028.
‘‘
f /
f
i
i
l
l
m
m
/
(a length of) dark, thin material
like plastic on which you can
record images as photographs
or as moving pictures: For Example:
I saw a fantastic film
this weekend.
Film Motion pictures relating the senses to Deaf and Blind Culture.
030.
Figure 0018.
An abstract personal interpretation of the film in terms of sensory interaction through the use of coffee, wine and broken tea bags.
Figure 0019.
TBAMBT Painting
The Best and Most Beautiful Things
A collage of moments in The Best and Most Beautiful Things
In rural Maine, a quirky, charming, and determined young woman
named Michelle Smith lives with her mother Julie. Legally blind and on the autism spectrum, Michelle has big dreams and proudly wears the badge of outcast. Searching for connection, Michelle explores love and empowerment outside the limits of “normal,� including a provocative sexual awakening. After receiving an extraordinary education at the Perkins School for the Blind, a world-famous institution outside Boston which was attended by the young Helen Keller, Michelle becomes isolated after graduation, spending hours and days alone in her room, struggling to envision her future. She attends an alumni weekend where a school administrator unexpectedly offers her the possibility of an animation internship in LA. While Michelle eagerly anticipates this dream opportunity, her family and teachers worry about real-world logistics and Michelle’s readiness to live independently on the other side of the country. Best and Most Beautiful Things gently reveals how all the most beautiful things, including love and sexuality, are not bound by disability. [PBS, BMBT]
032.
Figure 0020.
An abstract personal interpretation of the film in terms of sensory interaction through the use of coffee, wine and broken tea bags.
Figure 0021.
STL Painting
Shoulder The Lion
A collage of moments in Shoulder the Lion
“Shoulder the Lion” pushes the boundaries of documentary filmmaking
by taking audiences on a powerful visual and auditory journey into the interior worlds of people forced to cope with extreme loss of senses.
Humans can close their eyes but never stop listening. This simple fact
signals the end of musician Graham Sharpe’s career as a pathological noise invades his hearing. Alice Wingwall, a photographer who goes blind because of retinal disease, uses words to trigger the memory chip of her brain supplying motivations for the new photos. In contrast, Katie Dallam (the real inspiration behind the film “Million Dollar Baby”), is beaten into a coma at her first professional boxing match and awakes weeks later without a memory or ability to filter the unfamiliar images she now paints.
Both thought-provoking and inspiring, “Shoulder The Lion” celebrates
how the human spirit can triumph over adversity while finding new dreams and inspiration from within. [Outcast Films, STL]
034.
Figure 0022.
An abstract personal interpretation of the film in terms of sensory interaction through the use of coffee, wine and broken tea bags.
Figure 0023.
TSC Painting
The Silent Child
A collage of moments in The Silent Child
Set in rural England and Inspired by real life events. The Silent Child film
centres around a profoundly deaf four year old girl named Libby who is born into a middle class family and lives in a world of silence until a caring social worker teaches her the gift of communication. When fresh faced social worker, Joanne turns up we see Libby transform. This once withdrawn four year old suddenly feels connected to the world and over a short period of time Joanne and Libby’s relationship blossoms. An insightful short story, inspired by real life events, observing one of the loneliest disabilities and the avoidable struggles that deaf children face. “90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents with no experience of deafness
often resulting in limited communication between the parent and child, meaning a child
can start school with little to no communication skills. Since the closure of almost all deaf schools, deaf children now have to attend mainstream school and shockingly over 78% of
deaf children attend mainstream school with no specialised support in place. This is heavily
reflected in their grades as well as their mental health and well being.” [The Silent Child Movie]
036.
Figure 0024.
An abstract personal interpretation of the film in terms of sensory interaction through the use of coffee, wine and broken tea bags.
Figure 0025.
DJ Painting
Deaf Jam
A collage of moments in Deaf Jam
Aneta Brodski is an Israeli-born teenager living in Queens, New York. Unique among her classmates, Aneta longs to fully participate in the hearing world. While she is proud of her deafness, she does not want to be defined by it. Some of her classmates feel that Deaf culture is — and should be — claimed by a fierce embrace of deaf identity and respect for the unique beauty of its language.
At her school, Aneta joins an extracurricular program to learn American
Sign Language poetry. She and her fellow students gradually find their inner voice in the poems they create. Aneta’s world opens up as she is tantalized by the possibility of competing in a poetry slam with mostly hearing competitors.
With ties to rap and hip-hop culture, the U.S. National Poetry Slams for
youth have gained momentum across the country, highlighting a highly verbal and rhythmic form of self-expression. Aneta is one of the first deaf youth to participate in a major slam event.
038.
‘‘
D /
d
e
e
a
f
f
/
1 - partially or wholly lacking or
deprived of the sense of hearing;
unable to hear.
2 - ( initial capital letter ) of or relating to the Deaf or their
cultural community. For Example:
Deaf customs and values.
Deaf Culture The impenetrable bond of community and way of life within Deaf Culture.
040.
Figure 0026.
Florida School of the Deaf and Blind in Saint Augustine, FL
“In the community we have a very rich history, including two distinct cultures which have been so severely separated from one another by their language that there doesn’t seem to be any evidence they were even aware of one another’s existence until sometime after the rise of the information age. First there is the Deaf-blind, with a capital D. These are folks from the Deaf culture who, for one reason or another, have become blind. They may have been born into deaf families and later experienced the loss of vision. People who self-identify as Deaf with a capital D consider themselves part of a relatively isolated nondisabled community. They are isolated by their language from the community at large. They often are able to communicate with members of the hearing community through various adaptive means but choose to maintain close association among themselves. Part of the reason for their choice to isolate themselves lies in the history of Deaf people in this country. At one time educators believed that using hand signs was a lower form of communication-not fit for humans. Hearing teachers at residential schools for the Deaf forced Deaf children to read lips and to practice using their voices. Deaf students spent long, weary hours working with speech therapists and were forbidden from using their language of choice. Because of this oppression, which continued for years, American Sign Language (ASL) was nearly extinguished. A whole generation of Deaf students kept the language alive by sneaking signs with each other at night in their dormitory rooms. If a student had any amount of residual hearing, he or she was forced to wear hearing aids. Hearing aid technology was not very evolved during this time; the devices were not very useful, plus they were highly uncomfortable. It was a tradition among Deaf children upon completing school to throw away their hearing aids in celebration of their new freedom.
Deaf and Blind Because of all the oppression by the hearing educators, this generation of Deaf people learned to distrust the hearing community. That distrust continues today and is perpetuated by incidents such as the failure of institutions such as hospitals and the judicial system to hire qualified interpreters when serving a Deaf person, resulting in horror stories about wrongful incarceration, withheld medical treatment, etc. A common cruelty involves police officers restraining the wrists of a Deaf person, who then is unable to use his or her hands to communicate with an interpreter if one is present. Such distrust and animosity between the Deaf and hearing cultures extends to blind folks who, for various reasons, have lost their hearing. This group of deaf-blind people [deaf-blind being hyphenated but in lower case] do not naturally self-identify as deaf-blind. They have likely started to come to terms with their blindness through association with groups such as the NFB. The tragedy here is that, in the past, the true model of the independent vanilla blind did not include anyone who had “something else wrong with them.” If one had a hearing loss, one might as well remain in an institution or on the street corner holding out a hat. The “hearing” deafblind person was not likely to speak out and self-advocate. The deaf-blind from the hearing culture were not seen any differently from the hearing population in general in the eyes of the Deaf and Deaf-blind from the Deaf culture. Furthermore, since the deaf-blind with a lower-case D did not learn to use ASL, communication between the two deaf-blind cultures was, for all intents and purposes, impossible. In rare circumstances, where the two groups were placed together, the result was extremely uncomfortable. Each group ignored the other. The act of ignoring was interpreted by the other group as snobbery. I am a deaf-blind person who is from the hearing culture. My hearing loss was so severe that I made the choice to study at a total immersion facility for several months in order to learn sign language. All my teachers were Deaf. Upon completing my course of study, I had regained the ability to communicate; yet I could still not communicate with anyone I had known before I began my study. Hence I would need to choose the culture to which I would belong. Should I say good-bye to all my friends and family? They were not about to learn to sign. I was very fortunate that, within two or three years of learning ASL, I was given the opportunity to qualify for cochlear implants. They were both successful, and I have my life back as a blind person. But most others are not so fortunate. So now we have two different groups of DB [deaf blind] folks who can’t communicate with each other. They have the same disability. Both have a combined vision and hearing loss, both can benefit from an SSP [Support Service Provider], and both can benefit from Braille. There are some DB folks who cross over the culture line. We see them at our DB Seminar during our NFB Convention. We cannot ignore them. They cannot ignore us. They need the NFB philosophy. We need them behind us and with us when we go to Capitol Hill someday to ask for a national SSP Program. When I go to one of their meetings, because they know me as one of their supporters, they provide me with a voice interpreter. The NFB has begun providing interpreters for DB attendees who use ASL. The DB Division is agonizing over the cost of ASL interpreters. But relationships between these two groups are very difficult to forge. These relationships must be developed over time, with patience enough to allow the formulation of trust. As Pam Allen has said to me regarding the differences that set us apart, the key is education. We will not overcome the damage that history has done unless we first understand what will be required to heal the wounds.” The Deaf-blind Dilemma By Cathy Guillory Miller
042.
Figure 0027.
Figure 0028.
Photo of A Chair for the Bline
A Chair for the Blind
Time lapse Photos of Cane Usage with A Chair for the Blind
Summer 2018 / The Chair Workshop / Professor Mike L. This chair was created as a community social engagement piece for the Blind Community and all. Due to the variations of holes trapping the copper piping, a melody is created when struck by a White Cane, or a walking stick used by the visually impared. The White Cane can be placed into an aperture on the chair. The bent, rounded red oak wood traps the noise and radiates to not only notify a person of the chair but also makes the interaction with the chair an experience. The process of making the chair began with discovering how the copper pipings could move when wedged between the seat and the base to amplify sound. A study model of this language was then done to study the scale and materiality. This draftmodel considered the idea of holding the copper pipes with a single metal rod. The prototype chair was designed where the use of copper was being considered as not only a sound element of the chair but also a structural element. To allow the copper the freedom to make as much noise as possible the addition of bent plywood was added to the final. The formwork for the finalprocess consisted of bending the plywood to provide structure to the chair and an echo of sound.
044.
Figure 0029.
Anatomy of a Cochlear Implant System
Figure 0030.
The Entrance to Gallaudet University
Deaf Culture Culture and language intertwine, with language reflecting characteristics of culture. Learning about the culture of Deaf people is also learning about their language. Deaf people use American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate with each other and with hearing people who know the language. In 1913, George W. Veditz, president of the National Association of the Deaf, reflected in an old movie the sense of identity ASL gives Deaf individuals when he signed, “As long as we have deaf people on Earth, we will have signs, and as long as we have our films, we can preserve our beautiful sign language in its original purity. It is our hope that we all will love and guard our beautiful sign language as the noblest gift God has given to deaf people.” The values, behaviors, and traditions of Deaf culture include: Promoting an environment that supports vision as the primary sense used for communication at school, in the home, and in the community, as vision offers individuals who are deaf access to information about the world and the independence to drive, travel, work, and participate in every aspect of society. Valuing children who are deaf as the future of deaf people and Deaf culture. Deaf culture therefore encourages the use of ASL, in addition to any other communication modalities the child may have. Support for bilingual ASL/English education of children who are deaf so they are competent in both languages. Inclusion of specific rules of behavior in communication in addition to the conventional rules of turn taking. For example, consistent eye contact and visual attention during a conversation is expected. In addition, a person using sign language has the floor during a conversation until he or she provides a visual indicator (pause, facial expression, etc.) that he or she is finished. Perpetuation of Deaf culture through a variety of traditions, including films, folklore, literature, athletics, poetry, celebrations, clubs, organizations, theaters, and school reunions. Deaf culture also includes some of its own “music” and poetry as well as dance. Inclusion of unique strategies for gaining a person’s attention, such as: gently tapping a person on the shoulder if he or she is not within the line of sight, waving if the person is within the line of sight, or flicking a light switch a few times to gain the attention of a group of people in a room. [Gallaudet]
046.
Figure 0031.
Deaf Jam Movie Poster
Deaf Poetry ASL poetry is a literary form that evolved from the art of sign-language storytelling. Like English oral poetry, signed performance poetry uses the conventions of repetition, rhyme, alliteration, rhythm, and meter to construct linguistic patterns that add emphasis, meaning, and structure to word forms. Unlike traditional verse, modern ASL poetry transforms “phonetic nuances into visual ones and one-dimensional words into three-dimensional shape[s]” (Burch, 1997). Put simply, ASL poets use their hands to sign words and their bodies to express vivid images, related concepts, sudden realizations, conflicting thoughts, and underlying emotions. Susan Burch, a Gallaudet University history professor, believes that it is precisely this extended use of physical space that allows ASL poetry to expand beyond the conventional framework of written and spoken verse. Rather than simply stringing words together in an abstract fashion, ASL poets combine dynamic hand-shapes, facial expressions, and body movements that provide simultaneous narrative and commentary during the performance of a work. As a result, ASL poetry is rich in multi-layered meaning yet pristine in its fluid simplicity. However, this literary form did not simply arrive on the scene in its current sophisticated state. Many poets, linguists, and performance artists have played substantial roles in defining, developing, and refining ASL poetry. Rhyme, according to his findings, is “formed through the repetition of particular hand-shapes and [the] movement paths of signs” along with the non-manual signals such as facial expressions and body movements (Bauman, 2003). Signs that repeat the same handshape create the basis for ASL’s rhyme scheme which is somewhat similar to English alliteration. In a DVD presentation of Valli’s poems, the narrator, Lon Kuntze, clarifies the idea that this repetition does not refer to the reiteration of initial letters contained in a sign’s English translation, such as the letter “b” in “boy,” “baby,” and “bad” (Valli, 1995). Instead, ASL rhyme refers to the recurrence of a single handshape that is fundamental to a variety of signs, such as the “b” shape used to sign “birth,” “children,” and “adult.” Just as English poetic rhythm is created through stressed and unstressed syllables of verse, ASL poetic rhythm is produced by the intentional action or inaction of signs. By adjusting the pace of a sign, repeating its movement, or pausing to hold it suspended in the air, recurring patterns of motion and stillness shape the rhythm of a poem and structure the meter of its phrases. [Hawk, Hearts and Hands: ASL Poetry]
048.
28 Days in February Project
Birth of a Deaf Child
Figure 0003.
Photo of Nancy Rourke’s painting Birth of a Deaf Child
Birth of a Deaf Child 16 inch by 20 inch oil on stretched canvas $350 click on image.
n about the painting:
Deaf Art Deaf culture art, I think, is a cultural art that reaches both positive and negative ends of the spectrum unlike any other. I have truly learned so much about the Deaf simply by seeing the artwork that Deaf Culture produces. De’VIA (Deaf View/ Image Art) is a category of art that is made specifically for the Deaf Community. The reason why De’VIA was created is because “There is no other field in the struggle of life which can do more for the Deaf than art, to secure recognition from the public and through this to bring them upon a common footing.” De’VIA as with many other types of art, is meant to express the feelings of a certain people group. Some of the earliest Deaf artists are Quintus Pedius a respected Roman, Bernardino di Betto Biagi who worked on the Sistine Chapel and Claude-Andre Deseine who was a well-known sculptor. Mirzoeff is one of the first recorded Deaf artists that expressed the unique ‘Deaf Identity’. This idea of understanding the Deaf Culture through art formed De’VIA, De’VIA started in May, 1989 at a four-day workshop. It was headed up by Betty G. Miller. The De’VIA Manifesto states that De’VIA is meant to express the Deaf communities’ unique culture and insight. Including Betty G. Miller there are nine artists that signed this manifesto, their abilities range from art historian to video artist. Some of the more modern artists include Guy Wonder, Chuck Baird and Charles Wildbank. De’VIA Art can be separated into two groups called resistive and affirmative. Resistive Deaf Art is art that expresses the suppression and oppression of the Deaf. Some of the topics include oralism, audism and Cochlear Implants. There are many other types of Deaf Art including performance art, poetry, and Deaf theatre. The Deaf are consistently developing new ways to express themselves. They do this to face Societies understanding or misunderstanding of them. Through insight, invention and irony the Deaf are developing a culture. De’VIA is an important emerging part of Deaf culture. Through Resistive Deaf Art the Deaf community develops a cultural voice which is an important part of developing a distinct culture. Affirmative Deaf Art celebrates the cultural space, strengthens connections, and helps the Deaf to gain a sense of belonging making it an important facet of Deaf culture. Art plays a vital role in establishing a place for a community or individuals in history. “When the Deaf world sees itself and its culture reflected in the works of its artists that Deaf art is most effectively a bonding force in Deaf society.” [Zelinski, De’VIA]
050.
Figure 0032.
A Speech by Marlin Matlin on Communication for the Deaf
Deaf Social Media “For teens with hearing loss, social media is an important tool used to communicate with one another. We cannot depend on our hearing to communicate, so social media is a way of connecting with people that doesn’t involve hearing. It also helps to bring the deaf and hearing community together. In the past, people with hearing loss used to rely on letters or notes to communicate with people, when sign language wasn’t an option. With more people appearing online, these “old-fashioned methods” are no longer the preferred methods of communication. Although studies such as this study by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine show that social media can lead to social isolation, there are also studies that show how deafness leads to social isolation. According to John Hopkins Medicine, “Hearing loss also contributes to social isolation. You may not want to be with people as much, and when you are you may not engage in conversation as much.” What is unique about social media to the deaf and hard of hearing community is when social media is used properly, it counteracts the social isolation that is a part of deafness. As isolating as deafness can sometimes be, social media can provide a resort where we are seen as equal and there are no barriers for them. As a young deaf adult, I use social media all the time and have done so since my teenage years when social media became popular. Whether it’s to see what’s happening in the world or to keep in contact with family and friends, I use it all the time. Sometimes I don’t realize how much I rely on it! Throughout in the years, before I started using social media, I hoped and searched for a deaf role model. I never found one because it was much harder to connect with other deaf people. I was the only deaf person I knew in my town. This left me feeling isolated and without anyone I could relate to. Social media provided a way for me to connect with others. In fact, it was one of the factors that inspired me to set up my blog. Now, I love sharing stories with my followers, especially teens who are D/deaf to inspire them and let them know they’re not alone in the challenges they face.” - Ellie Parfitt How Social Media is Changing The Lives of Deaf Teens
052.
‘‘
American S i g n Language /
a
s
l
/
a visual-gesture language, having
its own semantic and syntactic
structure, used by deaf people in the U.S. and English-speaking
parts of Canada.
Abbreviation : ASL For Example:
I just interpreted in ASL.
American Sign Language W
The spatial and tectonic language mainly used by the Deaf Community.
054.
Figure 0033.
Abstract Drawing of the Finger Spelling of ‘Always’
American Sign Language What is American Sign Language? American Sign Language (ASL) is a complete, complex language that employs signs made by moving the hands combined with facial expressions and postures of the body. It is the primary language of many North Americans who are deaf and is one of several communication options used by people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Is sign language the same in other countries? No one form of sign language is universal. Different sign languages are used in different countries or regions. For example, British Sign Language (BSL) is a different language from ASL, and Americans who know ASL may not understand BSL. Where did ASL originate? The exact beginnings of ASL are not clear, but some suggest that it arose more than 200 years ago from the intermixing of local sign languages and French Sign Language (LSF, or Langue des Signes Française).Today’s ASL includes some elements of LSF plus the original local sign languages, which over the years have melded and changed into a rich, complex, and mature language. Modern ASL and modern LSF are distinct languages and, while they still contain some similar signs, can no longer be understood by each other’s users. How does ASL compare with spoken language? In spoken language, words are produced by using the mouth and voice to make sounds. But for people who are deaf (particularly those who are profoundly deaf), the sounds of speech are often not heard, and only a fraction of speech sounds can be seen on the lips. Sign languages are based on the idea that vision is the most useful tool a deaf person has to communicate and receive information. ASL is a language completely separate and distinct from English. It contains all the fundamental features of language—it has its own rules for pronunciation, word order, and complex grammar. While every language has ways of signaling different functions, such as asking a question rather than making a statement, languages differ in how this is done. For example, English speakers ask a question by raising the pitch of their voice; ASL users ask a question by raising their eyebrows, widening their eyes, and tilting their bodies forward. [National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders]
056.
Figure 0004.
Photos of Spatial ASL in Long Exposure
Long Exposure Photos
These images were taken with a long exposure time to capture
myself signing a variety of words to represent and showcase the spatial requirements and tectonic sense of American Sign Language.
058.
Figure 0005.
The ASL Alphabet
The American Sign Language Alphabet
060.
Figure 0006.
Finger Details
Photos of Personal Hand Details
These images express the detail within a hand because of its
abundant use in American Sign Language and its significance within Deaf Culture.
062.
Figure 0007.
Photo of ‘Deaf’ Hands Model
‘Deaf’ Hands
Figure 0034.
Detail Photo of ‘Deaf’ Hands Model
Figure 0035.
Detail Photo of ‘Deaf’ Hands Model
This model spells of Deaf in American Sign Language. It is raided
up from a pool to show strength and pride. It is dusted with copper leaf to show its individual unquiness and rarity.
064.
Figure 0008.
Photo of Cultural Anxiety Plaster Model
Cultural Anxiety
Figure 0036.
Detail Photo of Cultural Anxiety Plaster Model
Figure 0037.
Detail Photo of Cultural Anxiety Plaster Model
This model is an accumulation of broken and fragile hands. It is a
representation of the hardships the Deaf Community has endured and is symbolic of their strength together.
066.
Figure 0009.
Photo of Spatial Anxiety Plaster Model
Spatial Anxiety
Figure 0038.
Title
Figure 0039.
Detail Photo of Spatial Anxiety Plaster Model
This model is also an accumulation of broken and fragile hands.
It sways, chips, and breaks off over time. It is symbolic of the unease and anxiety of a Deaf individual within the hearing world.
068.
‘‘
ro · che · ster / roch - es - ter , - uh - ster /
a city in North
West New York,
on the Genesee River. For Example:
I went to the Jazz
Festival in Rochester. [population 210,565]
Rochester, New York A sensory experience paradise.
070.
THE GREATER ROCHESTER AREA
Figure 0040.
Photos of Popular and Tourist Spots in Rochester, New York
Rochester Culture Rochester is a city on the southern shore of Lake Ontario in western New York. With a population of 208,046 residents, Rochester is the seat of Monroe County and the third most populous city in New York state, after New York City and Buffalo. The metropolitan area has a population of just over 1 million people. It is about 73 miles (117 km) east of Buffalo and 87 miles (140 km) west of Syracuse. Rochester was one of America’s first boomtowns, initially due to the fertile Genesee River Valley, which gave rise to numerous flour mills, and then as a manufacturing hub. Several of the region’s universities (notably the University of Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology) have renowned research programs. Rochester is the site of many important inventions and innovations in consumer products. The Rochester area has been the birthplace to Kodak, Western Union, French’s, Bausch & Lomb, Gleason and Xerox, which conduct extensive research and manufacturing of industrial and consumer products. Until 2010, the Rochester metropolitan area was the second-largest regional economy in New York State, after the New York City metropolitan area. Rochester’s GMP has since ranked just below Buffalo, New York, while exceeding it in per-capita income. The Seneca tribe of Native Americans lived in and around Rochester until they lost their claim to most of this land in the Treaty of Big Tree in 1797. Settlement before the Seneca tribe is unknown. Development of Rochester followed the American Revolution, and forced cession of their territory by the Iroquois after the defeat of Great Britain. Allied with the British, four Iroquois tribes were forced out of New York. As a reward for their loyalty to the British Crown, they were given a large land grant on the Grand River in Canada. Rochester was founded shortly after the American Revolution by a wave of English-Puritan descended immigrants from New England who were looking for new agricultural land. They would be the dominant cultural group in Rochester for over a century. On November 8, 1803, Col. Nathaniel Rochester (1752–1831), Maj. Charles Carroll, and Col. William Fitzhugh, Jr. (1761–1839), all of Hagerstown, Maryland, purchased a 100-acre (c. 40 ha) tracts from the state in Western New York along the Genesee River. They chose the site because its three cataracts on the Genesee offered great potential for water power. Beginning in 1811, and with a population of 15, the three founders surveyed the land and laid out streets and tracts. In 1817, the Brown brothers and other landowners joined their lands with the Hundred Acre Tract to form the village of Rochesterville. [Visit Rochester]
072.
Figure 0041.
Photos of The National Technical Institute for the Deaf
NTID The National Technical Institute for the Deaf is one of the nine colleges of Rochester Institute of Technology, a leading career-oriented, technological university recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s “Best College Values,” and by The Princeton Review as one of the top 20 colleges nationwide for “Best Career Services.” More than 15,000 undergraduate students from around the world, including more than 1,100 who are deaf or hard of hearing, come to campus every year to take advantage of the benefits of an RIT/NTID education, and because it’s the right fit for them. The opportunities for deaf and hard-of-hearing students at RIT/NTID are unmatched by any university in the world. Career-focused programs that reflect the needs of today’s employers, work experience gained through the university’s cooperative education program, faculty who specialize in educating deaf and hard-of-hearing students, outstanding graduation and job placement rates, and unparalleled access and support services all set RIT/NTID apart. Check out NTID by the Numbers for a glimpse of what NTID looks like today. The primary mission of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf is to provide deaf and hard-of-hearing students with outstanding state-of-the-art technical and professional education programs, complemented by a strong arts and sciences curriculum, that prepare them to live and work in the mainstream of a rapidly changing global community and enhance their lifelong learning. Secondarily, NTID prepares professionals to work in fields related to deafness; undertakes a program of applied research designed to enhance the social, economic and educational accommodation of deaf people; and shares its knowledge and expertise through outreach and other information dissemination programs. Total of 1,262 students enrolled as of fall 2017. Undergraduate: 1,025 deaf and hard-of-hearing undergraduate students, 147 students (enrolled in ASLEnglish Interpretation program). Graduate: 90 students (19 hearing, deaf and hard-of-hearing in the Master of Science program in Secondary Education of Students Who Are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing, 15 hearing in the Master of Science in Health Care Interpretation, and 56 deaf and hard-of-hearing in the other colleges of RIT). These students study and reside on a campus that includes more than 16,000 students studying at the baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral levels. [The National Technical Institute for the Deaf]
074.
Figure 0010.
Ashley Hannan’s You See Me from The Rise Up: Silent Margins Series at NTID
Figure 0042.
Ashley Hannan’s Between Worlds, Always from The Rise Up: Silent Margins Series at NTID
Ashley Hannan Ashley Hannan is originally from Valdosta, GA and currently lives in Tampa, FL. Hannan earned a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from RIT in 2008. A few years after college, Ashley geared her creativity away from computers towards painting. Her vibrant paintings that range from landscapes to deaf visual art reside in numerous U.S. private art collections and in a few homes internationally. Her latest solo show called “Rise Up: Silent Margins” was held in Rochester, NY at the Dyer Arts Center at NTID. The show encompassed of 19 paintings that visually speaks of Hannan’s journey as an oral deaf person seeking for her identity between worlds and how ASL has helped her fill in the gaps of verbal communication and identity. She is the communications chair for The Florida Deaf Art Show, Inc. A not for profit organization that strives to showcase the work of emerging and experienced Deaf artists. It serves as a venue for these artists to share their often hidden talents; develop self confidence and express themselves uniquely through their preferred genre of art. Florida Deaf Art Show, Inc. also strives to create a platform that supports the larger Deaf community by showcasing the creative talents within; supporting the “Deaf can” mentality; and exposing uninitiated members to their unique language and culture.
Figure 0043.
Ashley Hannan’s Be True from The Rise Up: Silent Margins Series at NTID
076.
Figure 0044.
The Rochester Deaf Atlas Model
The Rochester Deaf Atlas This model portrays the various locations in Rochester specialized for the Deaf Community and those with hearing loss: A. Advocacy Services for Abused Deaf Victims Inc. B. Alpha Lutheran Church of the Deaf C. Big Brothers Big Sisters (Deaf Program) D. Center for Disability Rights E. DEAAF - Deaf Education Arts for African Families F. Deaf Coffee Nights (GRRAD) G. Deaf Elders Around Rochester H. Deaf International of Rochester I. Deaf Professional Happy Hour J. Deaf Women of Rochester K. Discovering Deaf Worlds L. Eastern Athletic Association of the Deaf M. Emmanuel Church of the Deaf N. First Bible Baptist Church (Deaf Ministry) O. FMI Interpreting Services Inc P. Genessee Park SDA Church (Deaf Pastor) Q. Greater Rochester Deaf Golfers Association R. Greater Rochester Recreation Assoc. of the Deaf S. Hearing Loss Association of America U. Liberty Baptist Church of the Deaf V. Lifespan W. Lilac Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf X. Louis S. and Molly B. Wolk Center Y. Marion B. Folsom Medical Center Z. Monroe County Adult Education ASL Classes AA. Monroe County Association for Hearing Impaired AB. Monroe Co. Services for the Deaf and HOH AC. National Center for Deaf Health Research AD. National Technical Institute for the Deaf AE. Parker Zack, Real Estate AF. RocCity Signers AG. Rochester ASL Meetup AH. Rochester Deaf Awareness Week Committee AI. Rochester Hearing and Speech Center AJ. Rochester Rascals Deaf Softball Organization AK. Rochester Recreation Club for the Deaf AL. Rochester School for the Deaf Sign Connection AM. Silent Suppers AN. Strong Connections (UR Medical Center) AO. Substance and Alcohol Intervention for the Deaf AP. The Genessee Valley Interpreters for the Deaf AQ. The George Eastman House International AR. The Regal Henrietta Cinema Stadium AS. The UR PAH MD + ASL Classes AT. UR Medicine MHW - Deaf Wellness Center AU. URMC : Deaf Wellness Center AV. Victory Baptist Church (Deaf Ministry) AW. We the Deaf People AX. WHEC TV AY. WORK TV AZ. WROC TV
078.
Figure 0045.
Site Visit Photos of High Falls in Rochester, New York
High Falls
Figure 0046.
Title
Site Visit Photos of High Falls in Rochester, New York
080.
‘‘
m i · l i e u
/mil.yo.o,mil.yə(r)/
the people and the
physical and social
conditions and events
that provide a background
in which someone acts or lives. For Example:
The Irish-Catholic
milieu of Chicago [a cultural milieu]
The Deaf Milieu of High Falls The Deaf cultural center for all.
082.
Figure 0047.
Figure 0048.
The Deaf Milieu
To interact with the site as well as my previous
research and concept of a sensory interaction that supports the loss of hearing and the culture of the Deaf Community, I came up a sequence of three entities called The Rochester Deaf Milieu. The three main components are The Thermal Spa, a Pedestrian Bridge, and The Poetry Center.
The Thermal Spa contains four main
alcoves, a hot spring, a large grand relaxation stair touching the existing water, and circulation by a grand spiral stair and a pulley mechanical elevator.
The Pedestrian Bridge is an organic
symbiosis with the landscape that balances from the safety of before the drop to cantilever over the edge above the loud and shaking drop of the waterfall. The bridge circulates around the historical Gorsline Building facade, out to water again, for a lookout pier containing seating.
The Poetry Center is an intervention within
the historical Gorsline Building facade and bones; honoring its history, but challenging a new beginning. The program Final Macro Scale Site Plan
of the Poetry Center is a main lobby on the ground floor, bringing you down a grand stair or a double elevator into the first underground floor where a study or community gathering space overlooks a large double floor circular library. Circulating around is the large auditorium. Then further down the wide hallway, is the lobby for the artist housing containing four units. Circulating down into the second underground floor, either by way of the artist housing stair or the main lobby circulation, is the large double floor circular library, an office space, a small auditorium, and the other two units of
Final West Elevation
the artists housing.
084.
Figure 0049.
The Deaf Milieu
Final Micro Scale Site Plan
The Thermal Spa component is seen to the left, wrapping the cliff of the High Falls drop. Connecting accross the moment before the waterfall drop is The Pedestrian Bridge. Located on the right side of the Site Plan is The Poetry Center, in symbiosis with the exsisting facade and landscape.
086.
Figure 0050.
The Deaf Milieu
Final Overall Render
088.
Figure 0051.
Final Overall Render
Figure 0052.
Final Overall Render
The Deaf Milieu
Figure 0053.
Final Poetry Center Render
Figure 0054.
Final Poetry Center Render
090.
Figure 0055.
The Thermal Spa
Final Elevation of The Thermal Spa
The Thermal Spa was inspired by my influential intital study of Peter Zumthor’s Thermal Vals. The use of materiality to interact with one’s senses inspired the design of The Thermal Spa in The Deaf Milieu to be a place of tranquity and restitution.
092.
Figure 0056.
Final Thermal Spa Render
Figure .
Final Thermal Spa Render
The Thermal Spa
Figure 0058.
Final Thermal Spa Render
Figure 0059.
Final Thermal Spa Render
094.
Figure 0060.
Pedestrian Bridge
Final Pedestrian Bridge Plan
The Pedestrian Bridge of The Deaf Milieu is inspired by the anatomy of a cochlear implant. The organic nature of The Pedestrian Bridge is also a symbolism of anxiety within public space in Deaf Culture. The left portion of the bridge is safe, tucked next to the train tracks. While the right portion cantilevers off the water fall.
096.
Figure 0061.
Final Pedestrian Bridge Render
Figure 0062.
Final Pedestrian Bridge Render
Pedestrian Bridge
Figure 0063.
Final Pedestrian Bridge Render
Figure 0064.
Final Pedestrian Bridge Render
098.
Figure 0065.
The Poetry Center
Final Poetry Center Section
The Poetry Center was designed and inspired by the cultural apperication and importance of poetry within Deaf Culture. Principles of DeafSpace by Gallaudet University were used in the design to showcase the importance and ability to design to support Deaf Culture through Architectural Design.
100.
Figure 0066.
Final Poetry Center Render
Figure 0067.
Final Poetry Center Render
The Poetry Center
Figure 0068.
Final Poetry Center Render
Figure 0069.
Final Poetry Center Render
102.
Figure 0070.
Final Ground Floor Plan for The Poetry Center
Figure 0071.
Final Sub Cellar One Floor Plan for The Poetry Center
The Poetry Center
Figure 0072.
Final Sub Cellar Two Floor Plan for The Poetry Center
104.
Figure 0073.
Final 1 to 80 Final Model
Final Model - 1 to 80
Figure 0074.
Final 1 to 80 Final Model
106.
Figure 0075.
Final Model - 1 to 40
Final 1 to 40 Final Model
108.
Figure 0076.
Final Model - 1 to 40
Final Micro Scale Site Plan
110.
Figure 0077.
Detail Photo of Final 1 to 40 Final Model
Figure 0078.
Detail Photo of Final 1 to 40 Final Model
Final Model - 1 to 40
Figure 0079.
Detail Photo of Final 1 to 40 Final Model
Figure 0080.
Detail Photo of Final 1 to 40 Final Model
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Figure 0081.
Ashley Hannan’s Bittersweet Tinged From The Rise up: Silent Margins Series
The Deaf Milieu
DENOUEMENT “Bittersweet is a word I’d use to describe my journey in the last 30 years. It was a struggle of countless hours dedicated towards speech therapy and learning who I really am beyond my abilities to speak and somehow “function” in a hearing world. I thank those who supported me during speech therapy and I thank those who taught me how to finally embrace my deaf identity.” - Ashley Hannan, Bittersweet Tinged Rise up: Silent Margins Series Acrylic, 30”x30”x1.5”
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List of Figures Figure 0001. Photo of High Falls, Rochester, New York Figure 0002. Photo of High Falls Wall Detail in Rochester, New York Figure 0003. Photo of Nancy Rourke’s painting Birth of a Deaf Child. Figure 0004. Photos of Spatial ASL in Long Exposure Figure 0005. Photo of The ASL Alphabet Figure 0006. Photos of Personal Hand Details Figure 0007. Photo of ‘Deaf’ Hands Model Figure 0008. Photo of Cultural Anxiety Plaster Model Figure 0009. Photo of Spatial Anxiety Plaster Model Figure 0010. Ashley Hannan’s You See Me from The Rise Up: Silent Margins Series at NTID Figure 0011. Elevation of The Thermal Spa component of The Deaf Milieu Figure 0012. Plan of The Pedestrian Bridge component of The Deaf Milieu Figure 0013. Section of The Poetry Center component of The Deaf Milieu Figure 0014. Photo of Final Presentation Jury Figure 0015. Tuan, 1974; Ralph, 1976; Sense of Place Diagram Figure 0016. Photo of the interior of Peter Zumthor’s Thermal Vals Figure 0017. Photo of “Active Textile” by MIT’s Self-Assembly Lab with Designtex and Steelcase Figure 0018. A digital collage of moments in The Best and Most Beautiful Things Figure 0019. Photo of The Best and Most Beautiful Things Interpretation Painting Figure 0020. A digital collage of moments in Shoulder the Lion Figure 0021. Photo of Shoulder the Lion Interpretation Painting Figure 0022. A digital collage of moments in The Silent Child Figure 0023. Photo of The Silent Child Interpretation Painting Figure 0024. A digital collage of moments in Deaf Jam Figure 0025. Photo of Deaf Jam Interpretation Painting Figure 0026. Photo of Florida School of the Deaf and Blind in Saint Augustine, FL Figure 0027. Time lapse Photos of Cane Usage with A Chair for the Blind Figure 0028. Photo of A Chair for the Blind Figure 0029. Anatomy of a Cochlear Implant System Figure 0030. Photo of The Entrance to Gallaudet University Figure 0031. Photo of The Deaf Jam Movie Poster
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Figure 0032. A Speech by Marlin Matlin, a Deaf celebrity, on Communication through Social Media for the Deaf Figure 0033. Photo of The Abstract Drawing of the Finger Spelling of ‘Always’ Figure 0034. Detail Photo of ‘Deaf’ Hands Model Figure 0035. Detail Photo of ‘Deaf’ Hands Model Figure 0036. Detail Photo of Cultural Anxiety Plaster Model Figure 0037. Detail Photo of Cultural Anxiety Plaster Model Figure 0038. Detail Photo of Spatial Anxiety Plaster Model Figure 0039. Detail Photo of Spatial Anxiety Plaster Model Figure 0040. Photos of Popular and Tourist Spots in Rochester, New York Figure 0041. Photos of The National Technical Institute for the Deaf Figure 0042. Ashley Hannan’s Between Worlds, Always from The Rise Up: Silent Margins Series at NTID Figure 0043. Ashley Hannan’s Be True from The Rise Up: Silent Margins Series at NTID Figure 0044. Photo of The Rochester Deaf Atlas Model Figure 0045. Site Visit Photos of High Falls in Rochester, New York Figure 0046. Site Visit Photos of High Falls in Rochester, New York Figure 0047. Final Macro Scale Site Plan Figure 0048. Final West Elevation Figure 0049. Final Micro Scale Site Plan Figure 0050. Final Overall Render Figure 0051. Final Overall Render Figure 0052. Final Overall Render Figure 0053. Final Poetry Center Render Figure 0054. Final Poetry Center Render Figure 0055. Final Elevation of The Thermal Spa Figure 0056. Final Thermal Spa Render Figure 0057. Final Thermal Spa Render Figure 0058. Final Thermal Spa Render Figure 0059. Final Thermal Spa Render Figure 0060. Final Pedestrian Bridge Plan
List of Figures Figure 0061. Final Pedestrian Bridge Render Figure 0062. Final Pedestrian Bridge Render Figure 0063. Final Pedestrian Bridge Render Figure 0064. Final Pedestrian Bridge Render Figure 0065. Final Poetry Center Section Figure 0066. Final Poetry Center Render Figure 0067. Final Poetry Center Render Figure 0068. Final Poetry Center Render Figure 0069. Final Poetry Center Render Figure 0070. Final Ground Floor Plan for The Poetry Center Figure 0071. Final Sub Cellar One Floor Plan for The Poetry Center Figure 0072. Final Sub Cellar Two Floor Plan for The Poetry Center Figure 0073. Final 1 to 80 Final Model Figure 0074. Final 1 to 80 Final Model Figure 0075. Final 1 to 40 Final Model Figure 0076. Final 1 to 40 Final Model Figure 0077. Detail Photo of Final 1 to 40 Final Model Figure 0078. Detail Photo of Final 1 to 40 Final Model Figure 0079. Detail Photo of Final 1 to 40 Final Model Figure 0080. Detail Photo of Final 1 to 40 Final Model Figure 0081. Ashley Hannan’s Bittersweet Tinged From The Rise up: Silent Margins Series Figure 0082. Photo of High Falls, Rochester, New York
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American Sign Language (ASL) Poetry, www.lifeprint.com/asl101/topics/poetry.htm. “American Sign Language.” National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 6 Mar. 2019, www.nidcd.nih. gov/health/american-sign-language. “Best and Most Beautiful Things.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/best-and-most-beautiful-things/. Center, Clerc, and Gallaudet University. American Deaf Culture, www3.gallaudet.edu/ clerc-center/info-to-go/deaf-culture/american-deaf-culture.html. “Cooper Hewitt’s Sensory-Focused Exhibition, ‘The Senses: Design Beyond Vision’, Opens This Friday.” Archinect, archinect.com/news/bustler/6446/cooper-hewitt-s-sensory-focused-exhibitionthe-senses-design-beyond-vision-opens-this-friday. Cross, Jennifer E. “What Is Sense of Place?” Department of Sociology of Colorado State University, 2 Nov. 2001. Daley, Cody. “The Therme Vals - A Complete Sensory Experience.” Spatial Narratives, Spatial Narratives, 25 June 2016, cody-daley.squarespace.com/blog/2016/6/23/a-complete-sensory-experience-by-peter-zumthor. “Deaf Jam.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/deafjam/. “Deaf Visual Arts: De’VIA (Deaf View/ Image Art).” “De’VIA” Deaf Visual Art, lifeprint. com/asl101/topics/devia.htm.
Works Cited “Discover Rochester, NY.” Visit Rochester, www.visitrochester.com/. Hannan, Ashely. “Ashley Hannan Art.” Fine Art America, 2018, fineartamerica.com/profiles/ashley-hannan.html?tab=about. Kimmelman, Michael. “At This Museum Show, You’re Encouraged to Follow Your Nose.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Apr. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/ arts/design/the-senses-review-cooper-hewitt.html. Lupton, Ellen. “Why Sensory Design? | Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.” Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, 3 Apr. 2018, www.cooperhewitt. org/2018/04/03/why-sensory-design/. “National Technical Institute for the Deaf.” RIT, www.ntid.rit.edu/about. O’Grady, Elena. “The Therme Vals / Peter Zumthor.” ArchDaily, ArchDaily, 11 Feb. 2009, www.archdaily.com/13358/the-therme-vals. Parfitt, Ellie. “How Social Media Is Changing the Lives of Deaf Teens.” Hearing Like Me - Hearing Loss Community, 28 Feb. 2018, www.hearinglikeme.com/how-social-media-ischanging-the-lives-of-deaf-teens/. “Shoulder the Lion.” Outcast Films, 11 Apr. 2019, outcast-films.com/shoulder-the-lion/. The Deaf-Blind Dilemma, www.nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm15/bm1504/ bm150402.htm. “The Silent Child Film.” Story | The OSCAR Winning Short Film : The Silent Child, www. thesilentchildmovie.com/story.
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Figure 0082.
High Falls, Rochester, New York
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THE DEAF MILIEU KIMBERLY
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