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How can language shape how we experience and navigate the world? Mari Kolcheva (1986) explores these and other questions in Language is the Only Homeland (2023-ongoing). This ongoing photography project started with research into Deaf individuals and their sign language, but along the way extended to include people with various degrees of hearing loss. Taking their experiences as her point of departure, Kolcheva started examining concepts of identity and language, and challenging social definitions of what is generally considered to be normal.
Kolcheva found inspiration in various Deaf communities and individuals who argue that they should not be seen as disabled. Given that cultural identity is largely determined by a communal language, Deaf people also constitute a cultural community with a language of their own. A term like hearing impaired implies a defect that should be remedied if possible. However, many Deaf people consider themselves part of a minority group with a language of their own that is deeply rooted in their identity and influences how they experience the world.
Kolcheva reflects on issues like these in intimate portraits, poetic images, and symbols from written versions of sign language. A small selection of these is shown at Prospects. Although she took the ideas of Deaf people as her point of departure, she eventually expanded the project. At its core it is about questioning the frameworks of thought that interpret physical and mental differences as deviating from a norm. In Language is the Only Homeland, Kolcheva wants us to explore differences like these, and to regard them as meaningful components of humanity and diversity.
Text: Sarah van Binsbergen
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)