The Deaf Club and Lamp
This textile poem and video performance work is about our Deaf history of Deaf Clubs before they were removed from the Deaf Community by greedy audist organisations who thought cutting Deaf Clubs was ideal to save money and provide Deaf services (albeit inadequate services!) and leave Deaf people without a safe space to converge together. The thefts of our Deaf Clubs from each Australian state happened between 1999 and 2013, Adelaide being the last one to be removed in 2013. Much to the anger of the Deaf community! Over the years before the thefts of the Deaf Clubs, Deaf people would gather at the Deaf Club and socialise until midnight, when the Deaf Club shut for the night, Deaf people would file outside and stand under the streetlamp and continue their social chatting until the wee hours. My work focuses on sharing the experiences of audism and theft of our safe spaces, and our aims to get Deaf Clubs back and decolonise our Deaf community.
The video performance
Deaf Club installation