Fringe show from artist Chelle Destefano to teach audiences about sign language
This deaf artist will teach Auslan while creating lasting artworks in her Brunswick show. She hopes the audience walks away enlightened about visual language.
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Audiences will be required to use their hands for more than just clapping at Chelle Destefano’s Melbourne Fringe Festival show.
The Auslan Movement, at the Brunswick Mechanics Institute, aims to teach its audience some sign language while filling in the backstory of its creator.
Destefano, who is deaf, said she would converse with the audience in the show by creating sculptures in signs from the Auslan language.
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“I thought about visual representations of movements to sound and vibration and an idea started to form in my mind, how can I make movements visual in a sculpture sense?” she said.
“I would like the audience to learn some basic Auslan, or at least start off with learning a few words and feel confident to interact with deaf people out there.”
Destefano said she would discuss her life, which included learning the unpopular signing language of Cued as a girl, before learning Auslan at age 14.
“If I had learnt Auslan (earlier), my English probably would not be as good as it is today and that I am grateful for,” she said.
“But many deaf people are happy however, learning Auslan when they were very young, as they have this special body language and connection with each other.”
The Auslan Movement runs from September 12 to 14. Entry is free but registration is required online.