Deaf Art from France: SURDISME

It is with pride and pleasure we introduce Deaf Artist Arnaud Balard from France. Arnaud reached out to us through this website and yes, this international Deaf camaraderie is beautiful. Arnaud is an established artist who pioneered a unique/new form of art in Europe. Please read on and be inspired by what Aranaud has to say.....

I was born deaf in 1970, in France. I graduated from the school of Beaux-Arts in France and then went to Brussels (Belgium) and got enrolled at La Cambre, the University of Visual Arts.

For 20 years I did intense reflection committed to Deaf identity and culture and in the meanwhile began my long association with Deaf Art.

Finally, with conviction, 2009, in Europe, I began the movement of SURDISME. I wrote the manifesto:

To propose a cultural exchange - political, artistic, philosophical, all that touch the Deaf World
To promote Deaf identity, history, bilingualism, audism including the emergence of Deaf Art

To make Deaf Culture visible and to give us Deaf Artists a platform to express our art our way
To promote awareness of identity and the cultural plural (cinema, theater, literature, visual arts). In totality, the Deaf Claim - we call SURDISME.

I understand that my artwork is "radical" because I work on the concept of audism and translate it artistically. That's why my artwork on babies-battery is a bit of radical art (named artivism here in Europe) that pushes the viewer to react to their perception of deaf education, which is oralism and not bilingual.

Of course, I also work on other things like my drawings, my small paintings, etc. I reflect on concepts such as audism, deafhood, Deaf history, "handicap," social norms, especially the history of deaf artists. In France, I give lectures on surdism (audism theory, an explanation of surdism, the history of art with the works of De'VIA...). I will also give translated lectures in English in two months at a Deaf art exhibition in Croatia.

Arnaud Balard

Please visit the following links to enjoy the new creations Arnaud is presently engaged in: http://www.dailymotion.com

To view the photos, you can see "the surdisme"
https://www.facebook.com

Welcome Arnaud and Well done!! Thank you for reaching out. We shall have your works posted on our website... supporting visibility for Deaf Culture and Deaf Art!!!!

The French Connection!

Finally, with conviction, 2009, in Europe, I began the movement of SURDISME. I wrote the manifesto: