Talmor used to feel uneasy about addressing the landscape and couldn’t refrain from amassing a huge archive of views from her travels around the world. She felt burdened by the weight of conventions and clichés attached to landscapes. Talmor's "Constructed Landscapes" transforms those colour negatives of landscapes, that were initially taken as mere keepsakes, through the act of slicing and splicing. The resulting collages generate staged, ‘synthetic’ landscapes that blur place, memory and time that allude to an imaginary place or idealised space Talmor describes her work as "a virtual space that opens up behind the surface". "Behind the surface" is a prominent phrase in regards to the disability of deafness. Removing a hearing aid shows there's much more behind the aid, an actual person beyond this particular disability.
Taking the inspiration of physically working with materials, I'm going to cut the prints I produce to reveal a mound of overlaid documents from years of tests, doctor's letters etc.
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Takvam has previously worked on projects involving blind and visually impaired people. Her project, "See You, See Me", explores the questions about how knowledge and perception are linked to each other. In this series, Takvam transcribes the answers of each person across their portraits and physically into the photographic paper. Takvam felt it was important that the words, in Braille, were written directly onto the photograph. The relation between the paper and the tactile, fragility of the small dots is essential and the Braille on the photograph is a direct confrontation of exploring by touch to get to know something (or someone)… Takvam had to learn Braille for this project and incredibly inscribed all the prints by hand. The series has been shown with sound, by each portrait there are headphones with each person’s description of himself/herself. Takvam explains that "voice is such an important factor in perceiving someone, something I’ve perhaps become even more aware of now, after working on this project." In a continuation of "See You, See Me", Takvam becomes more focused on the face and the close-up portrait, and the idea of not seeing in photography by making the photograph less visible and the surface-information less accessible. There are no headphones to listen to with this project therefore becomes slightly more unreachable for both people who can see and those who can't - but the merge creates a new impression and question all together. Takvam invited other participants to describe someone that they have never seen with their eyes. The close-up portraits are then overlaid with words from the description in Braille on a frosted, semi-transparent surface. The portrait can only be seen clearly through the Braille, the description providing a fragmented view of the person in the photograph. The inspiration I'm pulling from Takvam's project is the overlaying of an aid in relation to the disability - I'm planning to remove the aid and back with overlaid documents that prove the disability. I created a short survey to send out to deaf people and communities to gather some primary research and to see if people experienced similar issues with applying for PIP. It consisted of 10 questions, I emailed it out to two deaf communities as well as posted it into 4 social media groups. It unfortunately only managed to get 4 responses, but still shows that there are people who have experienced similar to my father. I did some research into what wearing an aid sounds like to see how it could influence my work. I looked at various videos and articles about it. Normal HearingHearing Basics:
If parts of the middle and inner ear become damaged - due to illness or injury - a person can lose some or all of their ability to hear. In other cases, people are born without the ability to hear due to malformation or absence of inner ear structures. Hearing Aid
Cochlear Implants
Cochlear implants differ from hearing aids in two ways. First, electrical signals are transmitted directly to nerve fibres in the auditory nerve, bypassing the outer and middle ear entirely. The brain can detect signals from the implant even if the cochlea, ear bones and hair cells are non functioning - this makes implants effective for people with profound hearing loss. Second, unlike hearing aids, which are worn externally, the receiver and electrode of a cochlear implant must be surgically placed under the skin and into the cochlea itself. I asked my current participants - "how do you hear?", the answers varied of course. Using this information, I'm going to interpret the vibration of sound through the use of grain in my images.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a benefit that helps with the extra cost of a long-term health condition or disability for people aged between 16 and 64. The amount received depends on how the condition affects a person. The person is also assessed by a health professional to work out the level of help they can receive. To be eligible for PIP, the person's must have a health condition or disability where: - they have had difficulty with daily living or getting around (or both) for 3 months. - expect these difficulties to continue for at least 9 months (unless terminally ill). In this particular case, my father (Gary) has been deaf since the age of 4 and there is not a cure for being deaf therefore is eligible for PIP, just as he was for DLA (Disability Living Allowance).. However, he had to provide mounds of evidence dating back to 1976 to prove his disability that is visual to us and others through the use and wearing of his hearing aid. He had to provide a significant amount of documents to prove his disability, almost as if that this amount of documents enables him to be a 'regular' person. The DLA to PIP changeover has been ongoing for the last 5 years and has featured in the national news as it has affected so many people. You could only apply for PIP within 4 weeks of receiving a letter from DWP (Department of Work and Pensions) explaining that your DLA will be ending soon. If you needed more time to apply - the only way you can ask for an extension was to call, which for a non-hearing person, is clearly difficult. After calling (calling or using a textphone is the only way to apply) to make your claim, you should make an appointment to see your doctor, etc to start gathering evidence you need for the application. You need to send any evidence that describes how your condition is. There are many parts to this application, including:
Deaf people may not struggle with all of these sections stated, they may not need assistance with things such as "preparing and cooking food" but when it comes to hearing a fire alarm - my father personally can't hear it. Sections such as "mixing with other people" is a more obvious struggle to understand, as a hearing person. When you attend your health assessment, you are assessed on 12 tasks:
Once your PIP claim has been reviewed and you have an answer (stopped, reduced but rarely increased), you are then able to appeal the decision however, could be waiting months in addition to the first x amount of months you waited to get the first answer. All the while that this is ongoing, you receive NO payment.
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