AGB Whips a Deaf Horse

AGB Whips a Deaf Horse
11 × 14 inches
Oil on canvas
February 2012
SOLD

Description:
This painting is a critique of oralism and its lasting impact on Deaf education. Alexander Graham Bell promoted the oral method, emphasizing speech and lipreading while opposing the use of sign language. Following the Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf, where delegates passed resolutions favoring oral education over sign language, many Deaf children around the world were educated without access to signed language. From a Deaf perspective, these policies contributed to language deprivation and the suppression of Deaf culture and identity.

The title draws on the expression “whipping a dead horse” to suggest the continued promotion of oral-only approaches despite the harm many Deaf people associate with them. The painting argues that an emphasis on speech and lipreading without sign language continues to influence some educational and therapeutic practices today.

The painting incorporates several De’VIA symbols. The yellow horse represents Deaf people and the importance of light, which enables visual communication. The blue tape covering the horse’s eyes symbolizes audism, colonialism, and the suppression of Deaf identity. The blue shapes beneath the horse represent “blue tape everywhere,” conveying the feeling of being trapped by systems that restrict access to natural signed language and Deaf culture.

This painting belongs to the Resistance category of De’VIA, challenging the legacy of oralism and advocating for the linguistic and human rights of Deaf people.