Chelle Destefano: Aural Transferences

Chelle Destefano is a Deaf artist working in drawing, painting, printmaking, performance and textile.

Artist statement: Aural Transferences has been an ongoing process of exploring the depths of memory of sound from childhood as a native Deaf-from-birth person. When I had only 10% hearing as a Deaf child, I was able to wear hearing aids and heard many sounds that became visuals. I have been using my artistic process to meditate on those memories into colour lines as notes. Working on this large 3-metre long work, I filmed a portion of myself in creation process and saw my memories of those sounds play out in my movements and I chose music with the help of my hearing partner Zoe, that fit just right with this work just like that. I recorded those notes of my memories of each section along the paper in white pen and pastel on the black that acts as a veil for memories of sound from Deaf ears.

This project is supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants.