Check out Laurie M Landry’s “Pandemic Lip Reading” (2020) on a billboard at Helmcken near Granville. Growing up, Landry was taught to assimilate and pass as a hearing person by relying on visual cues such as reading lips and facial expressions. With health measures such as personal protective equipment and social distancing in place the artist can no longer accommodate the hearing world and must find new ways to communicate with others that go beyond the spoken word. This piece shows the artist’s difficulties navigating the pandemic as a Deaf person, and the hope that we can collectively adapt to new ways of communicating that go beyond hearing.
Throughout the month of October the City of Vancouver Public Art’s “Platforms 2020: Public Works” presents works by the artists Laurie M Landry, Wen Wen Lu, Rina Lyshaug, Lindsay McIntyre, Jayce Salloum and Chrystal Sparrow. These artworks were selected through an open call inviting Vancouver-based artists to share projects that they have been working on that respond to our current circumstances of living during a pandemic and critical time of change.
For more information about the “Public Works” program visit https: vancouver.ca/platforms
