Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting exhibition at the Wellcome Collection using contemporary art to discuss the suppression of British Sign Language. OK I know it sounds odd but it worked. Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader explained how The Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf,   held in Milan in 1880, declared that oral education should replace sign language in deaf schools effectively suppressing sign language. They used witty installations to explore the effect on deaf identity. My favourite piece was this arm, one of a pair which inflated and deflated. This one pointed towards Milan. Closed 6 April 2026

Clever but dull exhibition at Somerset House Gallery 31 of work by Christine Sun Kim. It consisted of stretched shaped canvases which evidently mirrored the movements made by someone signing the titles in American Sign Language. It was a clever idea and about language occupying space but I’m afraid as objects they were quite dull. They’d have benefited by being shown with a video of someone signing the words. I see here is a video online so I’m off to watch it. Closed 21 May 2023