Reclaiming Cornhole aka Guernica

16 inch by 20 inch
oil on canvas
September 2025

Four Deaf men are joyfully playing cornhole. One lies down—Joshua Seal—holding Clayton Valli’s dandelion as a symbol of resilience and Deaf poetry. Another, Bryan MacFarlane, a truck driver, handwaves in celebration of winning the cornhole game. Above them, two Deaf men, Stephen Vozzella and Billy Brackett, look down from heaven, cheering them on.

A glowing lightbulb overhead forms the handshape for 21 points—the winning score in cornhole, and a sign of victory. Nearby, two Deaf searchers open a door, representing the quest for lost knowledge. One carries a lantern, illuminating the Deaf community’s ongoing pursuit of what has been hidden, withheld, or misrepresented.

Around two heads, strips of blue tape act as blindfolds, signifying being left uninformed or unaware. Inside the space, wooden floors and wall pendants frame the scene. Another Deaf figure enters, holding an invisible mobile phone—its absence symbolizing the lack of access to information.

This work continues a lineage. Inspired by Picasso’s Guernica and Nancy Rourke’s Second Wave of Milan, this painting—Reclaiming Cornhole aka Guernica—borrows their fragmented, charged backgrounds to carry forward the Deaf community’s story. Through this style, the joy of play becomes an act of reclamation, resilience, and truth-telling.