Silent Hands

2019

9, 11"x 14" paper, sweat

Sculpture

In this piece, I draw from personal experiences of non-visible queues on how disabilities are represented or understood in society. At a very young age, I exhibited symptoms of excessive sweating on my hands without exercising. Recently, I was diagnosed with Hyperhidrosis (increased sweating that can soak through clothes or drip off of hands). It is referred to as a silent handicap due to the psychological, emotional and social stigma felt by the individual. In a world where more than 50% of the brain is devoted to processing visual information, I invite the viewers to reconsider the limitations that visual cues may present when identifying a disabled person. I draw reference to the “sweat tests” used to determine my diagnosis. I created this piece by imprinting the surface of the paper with my hands and the perspired sweat for 1 minute, which I call sculptures. Through this piece, I made a non-visible handicap into something visual and tangible.