Finding Aid to the David Call Linocut Prints Pertaining to the Deaf, Disability Rights and Sign Language
Bancroft Library staff
The Bancroft Library
2016
The Bancroft Library
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
bancref@library.berkeley.edu
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
The Bancroft Library
Title: David Call linocut prints pertaining to the deaf, disability rights and sign language
Creator:
Call, David
Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 2013.025--D
Physical Description:
8 prints
in 1 folder
: linocut
; 77 x 56 cm or smaller
Date (inclusive): approximately 2000-2010?
Abstract: Original fine art linocut prints pertaining to the history and social status of the deaf, their struggle for civil rights,
and persons and places associated with the development of sign language.
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research.
Some materials in these collections may be protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). In addition, the reproduction
of some materials may be restricted by terms of University of California gift or purchase agreements, donor restrictions,
privacy and publicity rights, licensing and trademarks. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond
that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
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[Identification of item], David Call linocut prints pertaining to the deaf, disability rights and sign language, BANC PIC
2013.025, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
David Call linocut prints pertaining to the deaf, disability rights and sign language collection was purchased from Eye Hand
Studio (David Call) in 2012.
Processed by Bancroft Library staff.
Original fine art linocut prints pertaining to the history and social status of the deaf, their struggle for civil rights,
and persons and places associated with the development of sign language. Historical subject matter depicted or alluded to
includes American Sign Language, Martha's Vineyard, Alice Cogswell, the American School for the Deaf, Thomas Gallaudet, Laurent
Clerc, the Abbé de l'Epée, Samuel Heinicke, Ambrose Sicard, Auguste Bebian, Jean Massieu, and Ferdinand Berthier. Themes of
deafness, disability rights and sign language are especially prominent in the artist's metaphorical depiction of hands throughout
the imagery.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Deafness
People with disabilities -- Civil Rights -- Pictorial works
Sign language -- Pictorial works
Call, David
item 1
The power of ASL
Physical Description:
1 print
: linocut
; image 15 x 20 cm, on sheet 29 x 39 cm
Artist’s Statement: It is the power of ASL that created Deaf community with a strong identity. It is the power of ASL that
give us beautiful natural sign language. It is the power of ASL that allows us to be artistically creative with storytelling,
A to Z storytelling, and poetry telling. It is the power of ASL that enables us to stand up for our rights. It is the power
of ASL that made us who we are...
Artist's no.: 34/50
item 2
Martha’s Vineyard, mother sign language
Physical Description:
1 print
: linocut
; image 31 x 46 cm, on sheet 56 x 76 cm
Artist’s Statement: Martha’s Vineyard is the place where most of the ASL came from. Everyone had used ASL for nearly 200 years.
ASL was transported across the sea to the mainland. It gave birth to ASL in America. The image shows mother earth signing
naturally in ASL with Martha’s Vineyard Island in the sunrise. These ships are bringing ASL to the mainland. Instead of “mother
tongue”, Martha’s Vineyard is our “mother sign language” which passes ASL down the generations.
Artist's no.: 11/50
item 3
Submission
Physical Description:
1 print
: linocut
; image 31 x 46 cm, on sheet 57 x 76 cm
Artist’s Statement: This image portrays a little Deaf boy who is wandering aimlessly and not knowing where to get out of oppressive
world of audism. His head is covered with a burlap bag and tied up with a rope to show that the Deaf boy have to submit to
the so called “Hearing audist superiors”. Button eyes hide boy’s true Deaf identity in his eyes and audists want to hide
it from him and the public. Bells are sewn on both sides of head as the “ears”. The bells are ringing incessantly to annoy
him and keep his mind clouded with noises to keep him from realizing that he is a human being with Deaf identity. The bells
symbolize AG Bell with its countless hearing trainings and cochlear implants. The mouth stitches had been crudely sewn on
the face to reflect countless futile attempts by oralists to teach him to speak. Oversized adults gloves covered boy's tiny
hands and clamped them tightly with ropes to remind him that natural sign language is wrong and to hide them from the public.
Audists propped the outside doors with wooden studs to make sure that the Deaf boy stay trapped inside forever. My message
to you is that there are thousands of young Deaf children subjected to oppression by audists in the public schools across
the country. They need your help in getting them out and bring them to their rightful place, the Deaf community.
Artist's no.: 12/50
item 4
Me your mother
Physical Description:
1 print
: linocut
; image 46 x 31 cm, on sheet 77 x 57 cm
Artist’s Statement: Alice Cogswell is shining brightly among the stars looking down on American School for the Deaf with pride.
She is signing, “Me Your Mother”, because she is the mother of all schools for the Deaf in America. She changed American Deaf
history when she met Thomas Gallaudet. She left an everlasting legacy in America as many Deaf schools across the nation were
modeled after Alice Cogswell’s school, American School for the Deaf. When you look up the night sky and see the brightest
star, you will know who is watching over us.
Artist's no.: 12/50
item 5
Deafhood unleashed
Physical Description:
1 print
: linocut
; image 46 x 31 cm, on sheet 77 x 57 cm
Artist’s Statement: The hands in chains represent thousands of Deaf people being oppressed in the world of audism. The hands
in chains are signing “desire” because they have natural desire to be free from oppression. When the oppressed Deaf people
discover Deafhood, the chains of oppression start to dissolve and hands becomes free as butterfly.
Artist's no.: 14/50
item 6
The new beginning
Physical Description:
1 print
: linocut
; image 31 x 46 cm, on sheet 57 x 77 cm
Artist’s Statement: This image shows Thomas Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc signing “Unity” together to show their steadfast determination
to work together to start a school for the Deaf in America. The galleon with a bright sunrise, which brought Gallaudet and
Clerc from France to America, symbolized the new beginning of American Deaf education.
Artist's no.: 19/50
item 7
Breakthrough
Physical Description:
1 print
: linocut
; image 61 x 46 cm, on sheet 73 x 77 cm
Artist’s Statement: The main theme of this linocut is Abbé de l’Epée being underground in a stone lined crypt sledgehammering
Aristotle’s crypt wall down to set Deaf butterflies free. Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, once said that Deaf was
incapable of learning because they cannot hear, thus setting off two thousand years of Dark Age in deaf education. The Roman
numerals, “MM”, representing 2K years of darkness, are being split in half by a sledgehammer which is a metaphor for a major
breakthrough in the progress of deaf education. The two butterflies symbolize two deaf sisters whom Abbé de l’Epée met for
the first time and used "their" sign language in order to educate them about God. He initiated the first of a long series
of revolutions in using the natural language of sign. He showed us the way out by going up the stairway toward our emancipation.
The coat of arms hanging on the keystone above actually is the coat of arms of the city of Paris, where Abbé de l’Epée started
world’s first public and, still in existence, school for the Deaf, the Institut National de Jueune Sourdes (INJS). The boat
inside the coat of arms symbolizes the 1815 sea voyage of Gallaudet and Clerc to America. On the right side, there is a bust
of the Father of German Oralism, Samuel Heinicke who thought sign not a route to abstract thought. Two short epee swords hanging
on Heinicke’s crypt wall represents the duel or the exchanges of letters between himself and Abbé de l’Epée on the heated
debate on how best to educate the deaf. The six fleurs at the upper corners represents prominent people in French Deaf history.
The three on the right with Ambrose Sicard, Thomas Gallaudet, and Auguste Bebian are the hearing allies of the Deaf. The
other three on the left with Jean Massieu, Laurent Clerc, and Ferdinand Berthier are the illustrious graduates and teachers.
They all contributed to their deaf community, and indirectly to the American and the world Deaf communities. The Deaf souls
were, are, and still will be entrapped by “oralism” behind the unbroken crypt wall in which Abbé de l’Epée had failed to shatter
open. This job is still and now left to us to finish his sledgehammering . . .Written with Charles Katz.
Artist's no.: 8/20
item 8
Obey
Physical Description:
1 print
: linocut
; image 46 x 31 cm, on sheet 77 x 57 cm
Artist’s Statement: This is a Soviet socialist realism propaganda poster of my Eye Hand Studio logo. It sends a message to
anyone who doubt the power of natural sign language which helps Deaf people learn visually. There were countless attempts
by audists to use auditory and speech approach to Deaf education which ended in failure. The audists must understand that
Deaf people learn best through their hands and eyes. Obey the power of hands and eyes and Deaf people will flourish!
Artist's no.: 11/15