Physical Description:
1 print
: linocut
; image 61 x 46 cm, on sheet 73 x 77 cm
Note
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.
Note
Artist's no.: 8/20