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Description about the painting :

This painting The Deaf Vineyarders, is about the legacy of the deaf on Martha's Vineyard in the mid 1600's and finished in 1952. It shows DNA structures because deaf genes were among many families living on Martha's Vineyard. Hands were shown in Chilmark, West Tisbury and other smaller towns where most deaf families lived and worked as farmers and fishermen. These names: Tiltons, Mayhews, Lamberts, Smith, Skiffes, Wests, Pooles, Cottles, Rogers and many others were among the deaf and hard of hearing families who lived on Martha's Vineyard and became a community over the course of several generations. The island became known as the place where "everyone spoke sign language." This painting is owned by the Istituto dei Sordi di Torino in Turin, Italy.

Nancy Rourke