An exhibition by deaf artists and photographers will be on display from 4th May to 31st May 2016 in the main gallery at the Light House.
I was born in Moscow but grew up in Tel Aviv before coming to the UK, where I now run my communication support agency, cSeeker Ltd, with my brother Guy, in Birmingham. I studied Graphic Design at Derby University, and worked in various advertising and design agencies before setting up my own design studio. We set up the new business in 2013, and it was later chosen for the National Entrepreneurial Spark programme.
I have always loved art, and studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Art and have taken art classes in Moscow. My work has been shown there, and in Tel Aviv, Boston, Brussels and London. (In a Brick Lane gallery.) Sometimes, I sell my signed framed posters.
I like to use my experience of deafness (I am oral with a cochlear implant) and tend to use mixed media. First I draw or paint my image with oil paint or gouache then take a photo of it and change it using Adobe software, often to make the colours bolder for example.
I am a student photographer with a interest of the supernatural and surreal. I am passionate about my work and I like to work hard to achieve my goals in photography. I get a lot of my inspiration through Film, Music and Cultures. I have a huge interest in South Korean Culture and Media. I have a APD (Auditory Processing Disorder) which basically means my ears hear, but my brain can’t. Music helps me escape and I listen to music to help inspire me to create surrealist photos.
James Boyle is a published 23 year old British Deaf Artist & Writer from the North East of England. A notable online presence, he currently has a following of over 250,000 across his social platforms.
He oversees business and creative direction of streetwear brand Paradice Clothing and art store Jamboy & Co. James is also an online blogger and contributes for the world’s most original Gay Magazine at GT.
As a fine artist, my previous work has concentrated on identity – masking identity, providing clues to identity, and inner versus outer. However, much of my work has concentrated on my own personality or that of family members and despite this being interesting in terms of confessional art, it is not always as accessible to the wider audience who may interpret the clues differently than intended. I am keen to explore aspects of identity further, yet make the art more accessible by making the subject more understandable and recognisable. A large part of my own personality is affected by my issues with partial deafness and tinnitus. Tinnitus is a condition which affects many people to a lesser or greater degree, and in my own case has affected me all my life, impacting on my education, relationships and general life experiences. I am keen to try and show this impact of tinnitus on life and relationships with both people and the environment, through art, giving clues of this through layering my current piece is “The Tinnitus Alphabet”.
Maciej Janowski was born in Poznan, Poland and currently lives in the UK. He began his career as a self-taught artist and is passionate about painting. He has travelled all over Poland and abroad to exhibit his work. Most of Maciej’s paintings from 1990 to 2013 have elements of symbolism and expressionism and depict the strangest imaginations that suggest unrealistic things. He delights in unfamiliar topics, which are sometimes incomprehensible to others. With no preconceived concept of his art his method is to take the brush and paint using his inner feelings to produce geometric landscapes and architecture.
I am passionate about creating illustration for children’s books. My work includes illustrations for ‘The Beach Tree’ written by Noreen Ree. I have also worked collaboratively with The Seven Stories Children’s Book Centre at Newcastle where I illustrated British Sign Language fingerspelling images that were shown alongside the English translation on an information billboard. I have also created a ‘short screen presentation’ for Julia Donaldson’s exhibition of ‘The Gruffalo’. I have met with a number of writers over the years and compiled a variety of illustrations to meet their desired requirements.
I have illustrated ideas, costume designs and backdrop design for my theatre project ‘Gothrella’. I have illustrated backdrops which will be displayed on a projector, some of the illustrations will be used as part of the full production of ‘Gothrella’ which is planned for 2016. I decided to illustrate all of the characters, the costume designs and backdrops for ease when showing and explaining my ideas to the Art Council and different theatre companies.
Illustrating children’s books is very hard when trying to find publishers and agents; when I have met a number of publishers I was given good feedback however most are not looking for a new illustrator therefore I decided to step back from children’s books and hopefully one day they will come across my work, like it and contact me. I have written and illustrated a lot which is very hard work so I didn’t want to waste my time and fully leave it behind. I use all of my story ideas and illustrations and make animated short films. All of my animated film backgrounds and foregrounds are illustrated by me. Most of my animations have been nominated to enter International Film Festivals.
I am now working mostly on illustration ideas, storyboards for my animated films and I am planning to start an illustrated comic book, in 2016, using a Deaf character as a Super Hero.
The photos are available to purchase on Willow Photography’s website (‘Saturday Deaffest’ and ‘Deaffest’s Fun Frame Photos 2017’). Visit here to buy your photos!
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I was born in Moscow but grew up in Tel Aviv before coming to the UK, where I now run my communication support agency, cSeeker Ltd, with my brother Guy, in Birmingham. I studied Graphic Design at Derby University, and worked in various advertising and design agencies before setting up my own design studio. We set up the new business in 2013, and it was later chosen for the National Entrepreneurial Spark programme.
I have always loved art, and studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Art and have taken art classes in Moscow. My work has been shown there, and in Tel Aviv, Boston, Brussels and London. (In a Brick Lane gallery.) Sometimes, I sell my signed framed posters.
James Boyle is a published 23 year old British Deaf Artist & Writer from the North East of England. A notable online presence, he currently has a following of over 250,000 across his social platforms. 
He oversees business and creative direction of streetwear brand Paradice Clothing and art store Jamboy & Co. James is also an online blogger and contributes for the world’s most original Gay Magazine at GT.
Maciej Janowski was born in Poznan, Poland and currently lives in the UK. He began his career as a self-taught artist and is passionate about painting. He has travelled all over Poland and abroad to exhibit his work. Most of Maciej’s paintings from 1990 to 2013 have elements of symbolism and expressionism and depict the strangest imaginations that suggest unrealistic things. He delights in unfamiliar topics, which are sometimes incomprehensible to others. With no preconceived concept of his art his method is to take the brush and paint using his inner feelings to produce geometric landscapes and architecture.
