Butterfly Effect Painting

The butterfly is a very strong symbol in the deaf community, they were once thought to be deaf and rely solely on vibration rather than hearing sounds. I really connect with butterflies and feel a sense of pure freedom when thinking about them and my experiences as a deaf artist. The circles at the side of this painting are my way to explain that my experience and learning isn’t complete yet, I am continuing to learn - there is no start or finish. I am always learning about myself and my deaf identity, I have spent most of my life only in the hearing world, so I still have a lot to learn and I am enjoying exploring and understanding the language Auslan and the deaf community culture. This experience has truly been freeing - I feel free, just like a butterfly. The speech bubble with asterisk in it refers to my experiences in the hearing world. I have what is known as a deaf accent when I speak, I sometimes mispronounce words and out of context I will have people who can hear just start laughing at me - when I ask them why they are laughing they often reply with ‘oh you pronounce that so cute!’. As someone who can’t hear, it makes me incredibly self conscious and embarrassed in those situations, I wish the words came out as asterisks rather than being misunderstood or being ‘cute’ when I don’t mean to be.