As Mãos na arte surda

Uma ferramenta de confronto e afirmação dos valores sociais surdos

Abstract

This work is an excerpt from the doctoral studies developed in the Postgraduate Program in Language and Teaching at UFCG. The purpose of this article is to discuss how deaf art stands against the domination and exploitation of their bodies by hearing people. In addition, we will discuss how contact with deaf art can humanize us and lead to a responsible act mediated by a reflective attitude about the realities of the other that are present in artistic production. This discussion is necessary, as there is evidence that over the centuries, first, the dominant class of hearing people tried to purge the deaf from social life and, over time, explored their bodies by grafting their facial and body expressions onto artistic representations of listeners. Bearing this in mind, we believe that understanding this process can lead us to something new, to an empathic attitude, making us adopt responsible actions. For this, we use the studies of the responsible act by Bakhtin (1987), the right to look in opposition to the visuality of Mirzoeff (1995) and the concept of humanization by Candido (2011) and Freire (1998). Finally, we conclude that the deaf have the right to look, to be seen, not as things, but as people, and through contact with the deaf arts we will be able to know the particularities of deaf communities and thus practice the responsible act.