Sign Language as Image Project






"Man of ASL"

For the sign language project, I recreated an image of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet using the American Sign Language (ASL) alphabet. I wanted to create a narrative in my image of the importance of Gallaudet’s efforts during his lifetime for the deaf community. Gallaudet was responsible for the first free public school for deaf children in Hartford, Connecticut. He was inspired by his neighbor’s deaf daughter, Alice. As a minister, he wanted to minister to her and he traveled overseas to learn how to communicate to her as well as the deaf community in the United States. Once he returned to America, he taught Alice as well as other deaf children around the US. He also inspired several other schools to open around the country. I thought that his story was incredibly inspiring so I made an art piece out of his figure. I used images of the ASL alphabet in Photoshop as the main lines and texturing. Specifically, I used the letters from his last name Gallaudet to really emphasize his legacy. I think that the piece I made is a conformity of his mission and loyalties. Creating this piece was very time consuming but it made me think of how he took the time to try to connect with Alice. Because of this, I really enjoyed putting all of the images together and rearranging the images so that it looked like him. Knowing the image of Thomas Gallaudet I think that the end result turned out pretty well. My ambition with this project was to suggest how ASL is apart of him…literally and figuratively. It shows that it lives within him, is made up of him, and is there for others to see. I think this image could allow the viewer to wonder whose face it is and to take a step further in doing their own research about the “Man of ASL.” I think the viewer could understand the ambiguous meaning easily and I also believe that Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet could inspire them as much as it inspired me. 




ASL images: https://fineartamerica.com/featured/sign-language-alphabet-erzebet-s.html 

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet: https://www.tes.com/lessons/BAV9t7DixDHjrg/14-1-lesson-thomas-hopkins-gallaudet

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