A printmaking laboratory that studies the personal learning experiences of the Deaf and hard of hearing.
Half-words, Half-smiles
- Date:
- 22–
28 Feb 2026
- Age restrictions
- 12+
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The project draws on the ideas of the exhibition The World in a Single Nest: Following the Way of Tagore. The moderators, deaf artists Janhavi Khemka and Natasha Romanova, will invite participants to study the process of learning, and more broadly acquiring knowledge in the d/Deaf community: through language, environment, interaction, emotions, and skills—things not found in any textbook.
Illustration: left — चटाई, Janhavi Khemka, 2021; right — Don’t Believe the Tears, Natasha Romanova, 2023.
One such skill is lip-reading. For Janhavi, as for many deaf people, it has been part of everyday life since childhood, not by conscious choice, but as a necessary means of communication. Another important experience for members of the d/Deaf community is acquiring sign language: this may happen from birth within the family, or begin in kindergarten and school, as in the case of Natasha, who was born into a hearing family. We will discuss all these elements of personal education and present them in the form of visual images.
The title of the laboratory reflects its key idea—duality and mirroring. Participants will create paired artistic statements on a chosen theme: one using linocut technique, the other using silkscreen printing. Projects that exist simultaneously in two planes resonate with the experience of members of the d/Deaf community, who often live between the worlds of the deaf and the hearing, between languages, ways of understanding, and modes of expression.
After the laboratory ends, the works will be presented at the Platforms.
Programme
Getting to know each other and gathering first images
When: 22 Feb
We will begin the first day by getting to know each other in an unconventional way: completing visual tasks, taking a walk through the exhibition The World in a Single Nest, looking at Tagore through the eyes of an artist, and starting to record ideas in sketches.
Mastering printmaking as a way of thinking
When: 23 Feb
On the second day, we will explore prints, line, and duplication. We will share stories about how learning takes place in the d/Deaf community, experiment with silkscreen and linocut techniques, and produce our first mini-edition.
Seeking inspiration in a new space
When: 24 Feb
We will change the perspective, observing print formats and studying sign language as a source of visual solutions, as well as learning how to transform an image into a stencil.
Working as a team
When: 25 Feb
We will experiment with collaborative drawings, rhymes, and style. We will discuss artistic and educational reference points through practical examples and try to reflect them in the project.
Refining the research focus
When: 26 Feb
We will discuss print media, Deaf artists, and the role of visual language in conveying experience. At the same time, we will refine the project’s structure, and continue developing it and searching for images.
Connecting words and lines
When: 27 Feb
We will look at poetry as a tool for constructing meaning: we will try to write texts and transform them into pictures. We will devise a title for the work and prepare explanatory texts.
We present and discuss the project, and take a breather
When: 28 Feb
On the final day of the laboratory, we will complete the project, transform selected images into new formats, document the works, and hold a concluding discussion.
Moderators
Janhavi Khemka is a deaf artist born in Varanasi, India, currently working in Chicago, USA, and Santiniketan, India. Her practice explores acoustic phenomena through woodcut printmaking (xylography) and experimental installations that integrate animation, sound, performance, and vibratory materials.
Natasha Romanova is a deaf educator for deaf and hard of hearing children. She works with the visual structure of language, transforming it into sign “writing”, and also with themes of identity and corporality.
Project team
Vlad Kolesnikov is a hard of hearing curator of programmes for the d/Deaf community and accessibility for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Varya Merenkova is a hearing coordinator of the Deaf and Voiced programme.
Olga Koroleva, Anastasia Kuklina are producers.
Pavel Rodionov and Vera Shamaeva are deaf interpreters from American Sign Language into Russian Sign Language.
