How SILENCE serves as a creative and inclusive platform
Makassar International Writers Festival (MIWF) [Indonesia] and Literature Across Frontiers (LAF) [Wales, UK] work together to develop SILENCE | HENING – a storytelling program empowering people from Deaf communities in both countries and developing skills of emerging Deaf writers/artists. The program was conducted in consultation with local organisations for people with disability, aims to strengthen the partners’ capacity to run inclusive creative projects connecting Deaf and Hearing communities. The project consisted of virtual writing / storytelling residency, workshops, mentoring sessions, exchanges, and public discussions.
The reason behind the project
Both organisations have shared values and principles that literary and creative events should be inclusive. MIWF provided sign language interpreters and barrier-free access for people with disability and involved them in their programme. In Wales and the UK, accessibility is an important issue that MIWF want to learn more about. By addressing the issue of disability and arts from an international perspective, both organisations supported talented emerging artists from local Deaf communities in order to empower the community to tell their stories and highlight Sign Language in this multilingual project as a means of creative expression.
MIWF worked closely with Makassar Deaf community organisation, GERKATIN. Its community members are regular visitors to the festival and one aspiring writer from this community, Fitrah Ramadhan, was selected to join the programme. Through this programme, Fitrah Ramadhan started his writing career by publishing his reflective journal that was written during the pandemic, by taking stories shared by his community. LAF, our counterpart in Wales, engaged in conversations with Disability Arts Cymru around Sign Languages, Minority or Regional languages, creative expression, and translation. Under their guindace, Safyan Iqbal – an actor and filmmaker with hearing impairment disability, was selected to join the programme.
Creating A Better Support System for Deaf Writers/Artists
Covid-19 has changed the way we live, work, study, and connect ourselves with others. In Makassar, MIWF have organised a weekly digital Webinar since June 2020 and produce virtual art exhibitions/virtual tours. LAF have also developed international digital exchanges and conversations with writers in response to the pandemic. In SILENCE | HENING, both organisations created a new level of digital experience connecting Deaf communities in both locations through the work of the writers/artists involved in the project.
Literature Across Frontiers (LAF) has initiated and coordinated international literary and artistic cooperation projects for two decades, with many large-scale collaborative exchange residencies across Europe and beyond, particularly in Asia and the MENA region. They are experienced in cross-cultural work involving translation and are often invited to share their expertise with other organisations and contribute to arts and culture policy development at international and national level. However, this is the first time LAF have collaborated with the Deaf community.
LAF worked with Disability Arts Cymru (DAC), who supported the programme by providing guidance, facilitate dialogue with the Deaf community in Wales, and assist with finding appropriately qualified Sign Language interpreters. DAC director Ruth Fabby (formerly Gould), has visited Indonesia with the British Council and is familiar with the situation and needs of disabled communities there. Depending on the nature of the work emerging from the programme, LAF and DAC have provided suitable channels and venues for its dissemination in Welsh and English, as well as in Sign Language, using its own digital platform, social media channels and partner venues to take the project outcomes to domestic and international audiences, as well as sharing the process and learnings from the programme with their professional networks.
In Makassar, MIWF set up a support team for the writer. The team consisted of 2 mentors namely Lily Yulianti Farid and Erni Aladjay (for writing and capacity building), 2 visual artists (for translating the deaf writer’s ideas into artworks), 2 sign language interpreters and 2 project officers. The programme acted as an incubator for a virtual residency for writers/artists as well as an inclusive platform for Teman Dengar (non-deaf people) and Teman Tuli (deaf people). With the support from the team, Fitrah Ramadhan created a series of stories, one of which is poem titled “Jadilah Cahaya” or “Be the Light”. Through this poem, Fitrah Ramadhan encouraged his community members to keep going and focus on achieving their respective dreams, to then proof that deaf people are also capable on working normal jobs and therefore are equal to non-deaf people.
Through this programme, Teman Dengar that were involved in this project have developed their awareness towards deaf community, while the deaf writer has found a safe space to express himself. There were several challenges faced in thi programme, such as ‘writers block’ and ‘art block’ amid the uncertainties during the pandemic, particularly when the second wave of the pandemic hit Indonesia.
In Cardiff, Safyan Iqbal shared his story as a deaf person with the help of the LAF team. When he was young, Safyan Iqbal never met a deaf artist in the area where he lived. He then put himself out there by joining a local television channel as an intern, visit music venues dedicated to the deaf, and meet lots of deaf people from different backgrounds. This is what made him realize that deaf people are actually capable on working normal jobs, especially if they have the skills. Based on his filmmaking experience, Safyan Iqbal directed a short documentary film that tells the story of his life, as well as interviews with members of his community.
