9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Interpreter) Piano, p,[br]is my favorite musical symbol.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It means to play softly.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
If you're playing a musical instrument[br]and you notice a p in the score,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you need to play softer.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Two p's -- even softer.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Four p's -- extremely soft.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is my drawing of a p-tree,[br]which demonstrates

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
no matter how many thousands[br]upon thousands of p's there may be,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you'll never reach complete silence.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That's my current definition of silence,[br]a very obscure sound.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I'd like to share a little bit

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
about the history of[br]American Sign Language (ASL)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
plus a bit of my own background.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
French sign language was brought[br]to America during the early 1800's,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and as time went by,[br]mixed with local signs,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it evolved into the language[br]we know today as ASL.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So it has a history of about 200 years.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I was born deaf,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and I was taught to believe[br]that sound wasn't a part of my life.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And I believe it to be true.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Yet I realize now that[br]that wasn't the case at all.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Sound was very much a part of my life,[br]really on my mind everyday.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
As a deaf person living[br]in a world of sound,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it's as if I was living[br]in a foreign country,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
blindly following its rules,[br]customs, behaviors and norms

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
without ever questioning them.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So how is it that I understand sound?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Well I watch how people[br]behave and respond to sound.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
You people are like my loudspeakers,[br]and amplify sound.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I learn and mirror that behavior.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
At the same time, I've learned[br]that I create sound,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and I've seen how people respond to me.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Thus I've learned, for example,[br]don't slam the door,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
don't make too much noise when[br]you're eating from the potato chip bag,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
don't burp and when you're eating

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
make sure that you don't scrape[br]your utensils on the plate.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
All of these things[br]I term "sound etiquette."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Maybe I think about sound etiquette[br]more than the average person does.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I'm hyper-vigilant around sound.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And I'm always waiting and eager,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
nervous anticipation, around sound[br]about what's the to come next.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Hence, this drawing.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
TBD, to be decided.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
TBC, to be continued.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
TBA, to be announced.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And you notice the staff --[br]there are no notes contained in the lines.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That's because the lines[br]already contain sound

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
through the subtle smudges and smears.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In deaf culture,[br]movement is equivalent to sound.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is a sign for staff in ASL.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
A typical staff contains five lines,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
yet for me signing it [br]with my thumb sticking up

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
like that doesn't feel natural.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That's why you'll notice in my drawings[br]I stick to four lines on paper.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In the year 2008 I had the opportunity[br]to travel to Berlin, Germany

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for an artist residency there.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Prior to this time I had been[br]working as a painter.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
During this summer, I visited[br]different museums and gallery spaces,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and as I went from one place to the next[br]I noticed there was no visual art there.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
At that time, sound was trending,[br]and this struck me --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
there was no visual art,[br]everything was auditory.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now sound has come into my art territory.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Is it going to further[br]distance me from art?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I realized that doesn't[br]have to be the case at all.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I actually know sound, I know it so well

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that it doesn't have to be something[br]that's just experienced through the ears.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It could be felt actually.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Or experienced as a visual.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Or even as an idea.