Tides and Territories
In my experience, a lot of people who don't know British Sign Language (BSL) assume it's similar to English, or a signed version of English. This is not the case. BSL is its own language, with its own grammatical rules that I've always felt that English can't capture. Sometimes a sign will have more than one variation, and it's usually dependent on region. This is called a regional variation. Think of this as an accent! The colour purple for instance has at least 17 regional variations. I feel like there are signs created by choices rooted in white supremacy and colonisation.
For the first group of artwork...
Gender and people are usually literally signed MAN-WOMAN. I don't feel that it's inclusive of all genders or people. In my artwork one of the gender neutral signs for people is shown is as if describing bodies. Gender neutral variation of the sign gender is signing G then DIVERSE. I have seen G-HUMAN, G-VARIANT, G-MANY.
For the second group of artwork...
Parent is usually signed M-F, meaning MOTHER-FATHER. What if you had a parent who identified as non-binary? What if you had two mothers or two fathers? Or a single parent? So the gender neutral sign I like to use is shaking 2 fingers, to indicate two parents. I have seen people sign with one finger to indicate one parent. Or even 3! Interestingly, I've noticed for gender or people, MAN is placed first. WOMAN is placed second. But when it comes to parenthood, MOTHER comes first, FATHER comes second. Those signs are still used by many today.
Finally, for the final group of artwork...
I have decided not to show the racist sign that's commonly used to describe East and South East Asian people. I wanted to show the sign for Thailand, as I am a mixed race Scottish-Thai person. This sign is an index finger touching the nose and moving the finger downwards. This is the sign for Thailand because their national animal is an elephant. I find a lot of joy in this sign. Often, the BSL sign for other countries is stereotyped. My practice is to try to use the sign the people from that country use.
I often get push back when I challenge people over harmful or stereotyped signing, claiming that it is BRITISH Sign Language, so we should use the British sign. But languages evolve, we come up with kinder signs, we come up with signs that allow us to express ourselves. This is beautiful and we need to celebrate this more.
they tether our hands to the tired blueprint of gender MAN-WOMAN
guarding this inherited binary like a sacred, unyielding wall
they mould our hands to the imperial caricature of countries
defending the colonial grip they claim as tradition worthy of keeping
clinging onto the old signs until their fingers ache when questioned,
terrified that a changing lexicon will topple the monument of who they are
but isn't it beautiful when language is as fluid as rain on misty mountains,
becoming a river running, a shifting sea, an endless ocean
let our hands be that ever-changing water, and now our fingers
ripple out the iridescent expanse of gender G-DIVERSE
a joyful wave washes over us as we honour each
nation's sign to the knowing shape of its own palm
history is written in the dark, heavy ink of ancient empires
but our open palms shed the crushing weight of their lingering influence
our future hands as open as the Scottish wilds, tracing lochs and cloud swept glens
shaping our language into tomorrow, as vast and free as the heather stained hills