Conversational Pieces
How might we design artefacts that challenge hearing participants’ socio-cultural assumptions regarding d/Deaf communication, autonomy, and sensory experience?
Conversational pieces is a project that uses ridicule and exaggeration to challenge the assumptions that hearing people hold about the deaf community. The work utilises the principles of embodied knowledge to make people recognize the absurdity of their assumptions.
Role
Information Experience Designer
Royal College of Art, London
Duration
Sep'25 - Aug'26
MA Thesis Project
Tools
Clay, Blender, 3D Printing
Artefact Design, Poetry, Exhibition Curation
Research
Listening before Designing
Interviews
About 10 Deaf people and 3 Deaf industry experts, to understand the gaps and the intention behind the work.
Literature
Read papers, books and did secondary research to understand the context and decide where to focus.
Field Visits
Manchester Deaf Centre, V&A Accessible by Design, Deaf Rave, 1880 THAT, a Sign Club and sign language classes.
Provocation
Three assumptions
Do you believe that in silence, a new sight automatically awakens?
They say our lips are an open book. But is a moving open book really that easy to read?
Why is an absence of sound so easily mistaken for an absence of intellect or success?
Ideating
Thinking through making
Final Designs
Wearable Sculptures
Narrative
Triple Cinema Poetry
Inspired by Singaporean twin cinema form: two parallel columns that each read vertically as independent narratives, then read horizontally across both to reveal an entirely new narrative.
Feel free to read vertically or horizontally!
Vision Mask
You looked at me,
You knew
That I could see more
because I cannot hear
So you expected.
You never thought
To even cast a glance
“Enhanced Vision”
When I miss something
you seem surprised
As though I failed you
But sight does not compensate hearing
the problem was never my ears
it was the story you told yourself
Lip-Reading Band
You thought
That I could lip read
But could I actually,
Just because I watch your lips
So you expect.
You never looked
At me,
“perfect understanding”
when I ask again
you seem frustrated
As though I am at fault
But lips are not captions
the problem was never my capability
it was the story you told yourself
Cage of Assumptions
You assumed
That I am less capable
To decide for myself once
because I am quiet
And so you will expect
You never bothered
And see I am just like you
“A slower mind”
when I hesitate
you seem certain
As though you knew I was foolish
But doubt is not a deficit
the problem was never my mind
it was the story you told yourself
Testing
At Wellcome Collection, London
The primary audience is the hearing general public, whose understanding of d/Deafness leans on media tropes rather than real exchange, so the work was tested with people who tend to visit the Wellcome Collection since it generally hosts exhibitions related to these topics.
Insights
How to wear them?
The installation needs clear instructions or an illustrated guide for each artefact.
Spatial context
Moving the artefacts within the Reading Room changed how people engaged with them.
Poetry
People enjoyed discovering that the individual poems combine into a new one.
RCA Grad Show
Showing the work
