Lip Service

Lip Service
11 × 14 inches
Oil on canvas
2022
SOLD

Description:
Lip Service
Inspired by Robert F. Panara

You want to rap
You said
And let it all hang out
This thing about
The communication gap
That keeps us separate
Your kind
And mine.

You want to rap
You said
You want to integrate
But you decline
To change your line
Of crap
From speech
To sign.

Lip Service is inspired by the poem of the same title by Deaf poet Robert F. Panara. In his poem, Panara addresses hearing people directly, challenging the contradiction between their desire for inclusion and their unwillingness to learn sign language. While they speak of bringing Deaf and hearing people together, they expect Deaf people to shoulder the burden of communication through speechreading and spoken language. As Panara writes, such promises become nothing more than “lip service”—empty words without meaningful action.

This painting translates Panara’s message into visual form. A Deaf person with weary eyes and missing puzzle pieces symbolizes the lifelong loss of information caused by inaccessible communication. Oversized lips represent empty promises and “bullshit talk,” pressing down on the fingerspelled word S-I-G-N, whose letters fall beneath the weight of audism. The composition exposes the gap between hearing society’s stated ideals of inclusion and its refusal to embrace sign language as an equal means of communication.

The painting contains six recurring De’VIA motifs: the face, puzzle piece, eye, hand, lips, and American Sign Language. Together they reinforce the central message that genuine inclusion begins not with words alone, but with a commitment to communicate in sign language.

Category: Resistance
Theme: Audism