Maryam Hafizirad and Ely Lyonblum present Heavy Air/Light Water: Gestures Across Deaf and Auditory Cultures at the forum. Attendees hold balloons to attune to the haptic quality of the performance, inspired by artist and filmmaker Alison O’Daniel’s “Heavy Air” access practice. Photos: Henry Chan.
Image Descriptions: Left: An audience sits in the Blackwood Gallery in rows of white, wireframe chairs. In their hands, they hold lavender-coloured balloons. At the front of the gallery, Maryam Hafizirad and Ely Lyonblum perform alongside two televisions displaying images and transcripts for publics to follow along with. Sitting behind a long table covered in black fabric, Maryam signs her poem, while Ely responds on bass-guitar; Right : Maryam Hafizirad and Ely Lyonblum in conversation. Maryam is signing as Ely looks towards her. The backs of ASL Interpreters Peggy Zehr and Gloria Brifoglio blur into the foreground. Combining Maryam’s poetry with my haptic accompaniment on an extended range electric fretless bass, our intention was to invert the common practice of translating song to sign and instead treat the signed performance as the music, which is then translated to a hearing audience. Haptic accompaniment from the bass translates the poetry through sound that is felt more than heard. Echoing the poem’s imagery, a plectrum was used to strike the strings like the ticking of a clock mechanism, embodying the relentless rhythm of “day after day for hours and hours.” Inspired by Maryam’s recurring underwater themes in her De’VIA paintings, this sonic practice utilized frequencies ranging from 60 Hz to 1 kHz: the spectrum of what can be heard and felt beneath the water’s surface.
Since the forum, Maryam has been introduced to graphic scores: representations of music that defy traditional notation on a staff or tablature and “attempt to communicate particular compositional intentions[…] [or] to inspire the free play of the performer's imagination in unstipulated ways.”Maryam has rendered the poem’s rhythms, polarities, and fractures as a graphic score in collage (below)—a tactile medium that echoes the haptic feedback of our performance.
The poem, haptic accompaniment, and graphic score all gesture toward new ways of collaborating. Through this inversion of the relationship between auditory music and Deaf arts, we are attuned to the vast expanse of opportunities afforded by our creative exchange.
Instead
Instead of accepting and helping me grow my Deaf identity and uniqueness, they tried to make us talk day after day for hours and hours.
Instead of teaching us to have hopes and aspirations, they tried to make us talk day after day for hours and hours.
Instead of learning about our Deaf language and culture they tried to make us talk day after day for hours and hours.
Instead of teaching us to write better, they tried to make us talk day after day for hours and hours.
Instead of teaching us to live better they tried to make us talk day after day for hours and hours.
Instead of supporting us to find our identity, they tried to make us talk day after day for hours and hours.
Instead of reminding us to love and be happy, they tried to make us talk day after day for hours and hours.
It's the most powerful and tragic story of the Deaf world—how the hearing world controls our lives. They tried to make us like hearing people, taking away our Deaf culture and our rights. They never let us be part of our Deaf world.
Image Descriptions: Left: An audience sits in the Blackwood Gallery in rows of white, wireframe chairs. In their hands, they hold lavender-coloured balloons. At the front of the gallery, Maryam Hafizirad and Ely Lyonblum perform alongside two televisions displaying images and transcripts for publics to follow along with. Sitting behind a long table covered in black fabric, Maryam signs her poem, while Ely responds on bass-guitar; Right : Maryam Hafizirad and Ely Lyonblum in conversation. Maryam is signing as Ely looks towards her. The backs of ASL Interpreters Peggy Zehr and Gloria Brifoglio blur into the foreground. Combining Maryam’s poetry with my haptic accompaniment on an extended range electric fretless bass, our intention was to invert the common practice of translating song to sign and instead treat the signed performance as the music, which is then translated to a hearing audience. Haptic accompaniment from the bass translates the poetry through sound that is felt more than heard. Echoing the poem’s imagery, a plectrum was used to strike the strings like the ticking of a clock mechanism, embodying the relentless rhythm of “day after day for hours and hours.” Inspired by Maryam’s recurring underwater themes in her De’VIA paintings, this sonic practice utilized frequencies ranging from 60 Hz to 1 kHz: the spectrum of what can be heard and felt beneath the water’s surface.
Since the forum, Maryam has been introduced to graphic scores: representations of music that defy traditional notation on a staff or tablature and “attempt to communicate particular compositional intentions[…] [or] to inspire the free play of the performer's imagination in unstipulated ways.”Maryam has rendered the poem’s rhythms, polarities, and fractures as a graphic score in collage (below)—a tactile medium that echoes the haptic feedback of our performance.
The poem, haptic accompaniment, and graphic score all gesture toward new ways of collaborating. Through this inversion of the relationship between auditory music and Deaf arts, we are attuned to the vast expanse of opportunities afforded by our creative exchange.
Instead
Instead of accepting and helping me grow my Deaf identity and uniqueness, they tried to make us talk day after day for hours and hours.
Instead of teaching us to have hopes and aspirations, they tried to make us talk day after day for hours and hours.
Instead of learning about our Deaf language and culture they tried to make us talk day after day for hours and hours.
Instead of teaching us to write better, they tried to make us talk day after day for hours and hours.
Instead of teaching us to live better they tried to make us talk day after day for hours and hours.
Instead of supporting us to find our identity, they tried to make us talk day after day for hours and hours.
Instead of reminding us to love and be happy, they tried to make us talk day after day for hours and hours.
It's the most powerful and tragic story of the Deaf world—how the hearing world controls our lives. They tried to make us like hearing people, taking away our Deaf culture and our rights. They never let us be part of our Deaf world.
بجای
بجای اینکه داشتن آمال و آرزو را به ما بیاموزند ساعتها روی صدایمان کار می کردند.
بجای اینکه با زبان و فرهنگ ناشنوا آشنا شوند ساعتها روی صدایمان کار می کردند.
بجای اینکه بهتر نوشتن را یادمان بدهند ساعتها روی صدایمان کار می کردند.
بجای اینکه بهتر زیستن را یادمان بدهند ساعتها روی صدایمان کار می کردند.
بجای اینکه حمایتم کنند تا هویت خودم را پیدا کنم ساعتها روی صدایمان کار می کردند.
بجای اینکه عشق ورزیدن و شاد بودن را یادمان بدهند ساعتها روی صدایمان کار می کردند.
مریم حفیظی راد
بجای اینکه داشتن آمال و آرزو را به ما بیاموزند ساعتها روی صدایمان کار می کردند.
بجای اینکه با زبان و فرهنگ ناشنوا آشنا شوند ساعتها روی صدایمان کار می کردند.
بجای اینکه بهتر نوشتن را یادمان بدهند ساعتها روی صدایمان کار می کردند.
بجای اینکه بهتر زیستن را یادمان بدهند ساعتها روی صدایمان کار می کردند.
بجای اینکه حمایتم کنند تا هویت خودم را پیدا کنم ساعتها روی صدایمان کار می کردند.
بجای اینکه عشق ورزیدن و شاد بودن را یادمان بدهند ساعتها روی صدایمان کار می کردند.
مریم حفیظی راد
