In photography I've always been interested in
portraits and capturing the human face. I believe the face has a lot to tell
and emotions can portray different meanings to different people. In American
Sign Language (ASL), over half of the conversation takes place on the face. All
meaning behind the signs and hand movements are portrayed on the face; while
the facial expressions can act independently, the hand movements cannot be
separated from the facial grammar. Similarly, the movement of the body
signifies certain grammatical structures. ASL, besides being a language, allows
for such self expression, visual conveyance of ideas, and easily captivates
those around it. For this reason, I decided to photograph signers in action
focusing on their face. While I don't expect everyone to understand the
grammar, I hope that my viewers find these conversations interesting and
perhaps understand my infatuation.
For my pictures, I
chose primarily D/deaf and native signers because of their fluency with facial
grammar. At first I tried photographing my models in public places and realize
that I wanted a more focused location where the subject, ASL, is most noticed.
I had a few of my friends come in to the studio and tell me stories or talk to
each other so as to have as natural of poses as possible. I left some space in
the crops and positioned the subjects in such a way as to give the stills
movement.
ASL has been
photographed by many people and tends to have a generic quality: blurry hands,
weird facial expression, boring. Most often they are inadequate for capturing
the essence of such a beautiful language. While my pictures have blurry hands
and weird facial expressions, I hope to convey meaning, not just show ASL in
action. And while my point may not come across to all, I hope that there will
be something interesting for everyone.
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