CURATORIAL/BODIES III
When I was six years old, I fell ill with mumps, I suddenly lost hearing in my left ear.
My parents did everything to cure me, we went to Los Angeles where the treatments were still experimental. When I returned home I had a lot of sessions in the hyperbaric chamber. Despite everything, I never recovered hearing in my left ear and after this, it was difficult understanding the direction of a sound.
I was inspired by Patti Purr’s Painted Hands and The colors of Carlo Fantauzzi’s paintings, two deaf artists. Initially, I tried to understand how one can understand the direction of a sound in a closed space. My need led me to create a hand’s sculpture holding a light that changes color according to the sounds.
It allows people with partial or total deafness to perceive dangerous people, animals, and moving objects. Its function is to prevent danger, too. ~Valentina Parlato