What I Wish I’d Told You

Auslan storytellers affirmed Deaf experiences and diverse, complex identities, in an immersive exhibition of large-scale video projections, which took visitors into a Deaf world. In this collaboration of over seventy Deaf and hearing allies, empowered Deaf storytellers drew on decolonising strategies of truth-telling, provocation, and self-representation, to challenge audist colonisation of Deaf lives, bodies, language and knowledges.

“In Auslan, we pass stories from hand to hand. Our stories cannot be put on a page, detached from us. When we tell stories through sign language, our whole body, mind, emotion, and inner self is also expressed. Our signed stories carry culture. They are a site of resistance and pride.” – Chelle Destefano.

Shared with humour, wit, courage, and care, What I Wish I’d Told You transformed ArtSpace into a Deaf space and Deaf Cultural experience.

What I Wish I’d Told You was supported by the Victorian College of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Melbourne, Australia Council, Creative Victoria, Regional Arts Victoria, City of Melbourne, the West Space/ Footscray Community Arts Commission, Hyphen Wodonga Commission and the Maroondah Arts and Culture Grant.

This project was proudly auspiced by Arts Access Victoria.

When

Location

ArtSpace at Realm, 179 Maroondah Highway, Ringwood, 3134, View map