Deaf Material
A sweeping visual archive by the Berlin-based American sound artist Christine Sun Kim (b. 1980), Deaf Material collects over 600 vernacular photographs and images documenting deaf representation in mainstream culture from the late 19th century to the present.
The 384-page publication unfolds across 24 thematic categories (including Airports, Celebrity ASL, Call and Wait, Deaf Power, Deaf/death, Parking Lots, and Trash), each carrying Kim's expanded captions that provide historical context and commentary on deaf experiences and aesthetics. Drawing from pop culture imagery, memes, advertisements, disability signage, artworks, personal ephemera, and archival material from Gallaudet University, the book employs a Tumblr-style aesthetic that mirrors how visual culture circulates and accumulates meaning online. Kim's approach transforms these everyday encounters with deaf representation into a critical taxonomy of visibility and misrepresentation.
Christine Sun Kim is a sound artist whose practice employs drawing, video, performance, American Sign Language, and closed-captioning to explore how sound operates in society while advocating for Deaf community visibility. Deaf since birth, Kim challenges hearing-world power structures through works that interrogate "hearing etiquette" and institutional barriers. Her major works include Degrees of Deaf Rage (mathematical angle drawings depicting emotional intensity), The Sound of Temperature Rising (2019, ASL-based climate change drawings), and her Super Bowl LIV ASL interpretation. She holds MFAs from School of Visual Arts (2006) and Bard College (2013), and is represented by François Ghebaly (Los Angeles), Gallery Hyundai (Seoul), and White Space (Beijing).
