Day 25 of 28 Days in February Project

This painting is inspired by Francisco Goya, Deaf Spanish Artist. He did 80 etchings with series of prints, Los Caprichos in 1799. This was the time when he was possibly having a Menieres disease and became deaf. The print is called 'The Chinchillas, no. 50' and it shows two characters and Goya commented "He who hears nothing, knows nothing, and does nothing belongs to the numerous family of the Chinchillas, which always been good for nothing. ...They close off their understanding (ears) with padlocks.." This tells me they are deaf and are victims of their own pride. It reminds me of the blog written by Patti Durr about the new implantable cochlear implant which is 100% internal CI, not external. There's nothing on the outside. That means Deaf children cannot take off the devices. Parents and teachers have the remote control. This is child abuse. In the painting, there is a doctor putting in a lock, so the CI cannot be taken out. The Deaf child is wrapped around with blue tapes just like the two characters in Goya's The Chinchillas.

Goya's The Chinchillas, no. 50