Nancy Rourke Paintings

Lip Service

Lip Service 11 inch by 14 inch oil on canvas $200

Description about the painting:

The painting is inspired by Robert F. Panara's poem, Lip Service.

Lip Service
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.

The poem that Bob Panara wrote, he is talking to the hearing people (You). Lip service means talk talk talk but never do it. (Rap) means to chat informally. (Line of crap) means bullshit talk.

What Bob was saying that hearing people do not want Deaf people to be separate. Meaning we should all be together is what they believe in. But we Deaf people know it means we have to do all of the accommodating. That means the hearing people say- come and join us. But they do not learn to sign and they expect us to lipread.

So what Bob was saying, he communicates that hearing people have great ideas about wanting to join together but it's all bullshit talk if they do not learn to sign first.

[in the painting, there is a Deaf person with weary eyes and with missing puzzle pieces, meaning a Deaf person missed out on a lot of information from the hearing people. Big lips are all bullshit talk, pushing down S-I-G-N as the fingerspelled S-I-G-N are falling down. And the hearing people are trying to be polite and believe Deaf people should join them. There are six motifs: 1. face, 2. puzzle piece, 3. eye, 4. hand, 5. lip and 6. ASL. Categories: Resistance. Theme: Audism]

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Nancy Rourke all paintings are copyrighted. 2001-2022
Last updated November 5, 2022