Inspired by her experience as a deaf person, Zoe Milner was supported by City Arts to create her new conceptual exhibition I Talk With My Hands. We learn more before the exhibit launches on the 9th of February...
I Talk with My Hands is a new conceptual art exhibition created by 21-year-old Nottingham artist, Zoe Milner. Inspired by her experiences as a deaf person, Zoe uses hand-drawn typography to teach people about her first language: British Sign Language (BSL). When Zoe writes, she translates the unique words, grammatical structure and syntax of BSL in her second language, English. With her exhibition, she hopes to inspire the deaf community, and other disabled people, to express pride in their identity.
Zoe was born profoundly deaf, to a hearing family. Despite being high-achieving in school, she always struggled getting to grips with English, and failed GCSE English Language three times. However, hers is not a unique struggle; most other profoundly deaf people also have difficulty with reading and writing English. Through her artistic practice, Zoe seeks to address this struggle whilst simultaneously celebrating the power, beauty and freedom of sign language.
She explains: “I feel deaf representation is important and this exhibition gives me an opportunity to raise awareness. It is important people understand our perspective: the discrimination and audism deaf society faces. I want to expose some of the things people don’t know about my community: deaf education, the history of sign language. I’d like people to learn what deaf culture looks like.”
Zoe created her expressive, important artwork during a residency at charities building in Hockley. Her vision was supported by the Nottingham charity City Arts, as part of their RESIDENCE project. City Arts’ panel of deaf, disabled and neurodivergent creatives awarded Zoe a £1200 bursary to bring her exhibition to life.
Suzannah Bedford, Director at City Arts, said: “We are incredibly proud to be able to share Zoe’s work with the people of Nottingham. Zoe was awarded the money to create this exhibition by a panel of her peers, an example of how we create inclusive opportunities for artist support. The exhibition is presented in our Window Gallery, which gives local people and passers-by access to high quality art in the street, without the need to set foot inside a gallery.”
However, if you did want to take a closer look at Zoe’s artwork, I Talk with My Hands runs from February 9 to March 29 2023, in The Window Gallery at City Arts, 11-13 Hockley, Nottingham NG1 1FH. Otherwise, a glimpse into Zoe’s world can be viewed from the street, Monday to Thursday, between 10am to 5pm.
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