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United by Language

,
  • Free
  • Performance
  • British Sign Language interpreted
  • Relaxed
A person on a stage in a performance using sign language.
Visual Vernacular Festival 2024. © Olivier Calcada.

What you’ll do

Join us for an evening of Visual Vernacular (VV) and poetry performances to reflect on the power of sign language to unite, express and communicate. 

VV is an expressive art form that uses hand movements, body motion, and facial expressions to create powerful visual storytelling. It uses purely visual elements to evoke emotion, meaning, and connection. 

Between 5pm and 6pm, there will be a number of individual performances by Olivier Calcada, Zoë McWhinney and Duffy across different parts of our building. Then, between 7pm and 8pm, the three artists will perform with each other, and this collaborative performance will move to different areas of our building. 

Book a ticket, and closer to the event we’ll email you a programme with the timings and locations of their performances.

During the performances there will be space for you to sit, lean or stand. 

This unique event is inspired by our ‘1880 THAT’ exhibition and ‘Finger Talk’ installation, which you’ll have the opportunity to explore throughout the evening. Our other gallery spaces will also be open. 

This is a relaxed event, so you can move around. There will also be a Chill-Out Room with low lighting, comfortable seating, cushions, mats and space to move around. You can also make use of ear defenders, earplugs, stim toys and materials with different textures.  

British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters will be present to support you throughout the night. All performances are in VV and these will not be interpreted into BSL or translated to spoken English. 

Dates

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Tickets via Eventbrite

Need to know

Location

This is an event with several different activities. Check specific sub-events for their locations.

Guaranteed place

For this event, booking a ticket guarantees you a place on the day. We advise arriving 15 minutes before the event starts to take your place.

British Sign Language interpreted

This event will have British Sign Language interpretation.

Relaxed

This is a relaxed event, which means that if you need to, you are welcome to move around and make noise at any time.

For more information, please visit our Accessibility page. If you have any queries about accessibility, please email us at access@wellcomecollection.org or call 0 2 0. 7 6 1 1. 2 2 2 2

Our event terms and conditions

About your contributors

A headshot of Ace Mahbaz

Ace Mahbaz

Curator

Ace Mahbaz is a Deaf actor, writer, and filmmaker with 20 years in the film and theatre industries. His work in Visual Vernacular and poetry fuses language, culture, and personal experience. Ace creates stories that resonate with audiences, celebrating the richness and diversity of Deaf culture. 

A headshot of Cathy Mager

Cathy Mager

Curator

Cathy is an artist and curator known for her powerful public realm works that explore new perspectives on equity, climate change and heritage. Since 2020, Cathy has pioneered sign language projections on major public buildings including The Cunard (Liverpool), Arnolfini (Bristol), Duolun Museum of Modern Art and Suhe Haus (Shanghai). In 2021, she founded Spectroscope, an international collective of deaf and disabled artists and their most recent artwork Night Bloom was featured at Science Gallery 2024-2025.

Zoë McWhinney

Artist

Zoë McWhinney is a BSL poet and Visual Vernacular artist, and one of the founders of BSL Slam. She is politically-minded, a massive people (and cats) person, and the vice president of European Deaf Students’ Union - a union campaigning to raise the standards of the Deaf student life and accessibility across Europe.

A headshot of Olivier Calcada

Olivier Calcada

Artist

Olivier Calcada was one of the first French to French Sign Language translators and has been making his mark on the translation scene since 2005, before discovering a passion for the theatre. Today, he teaches Sign Language Performance Art at ETU Toulouse, with a particular emphasis on Visual Vernacular. For Olivier, Visual Vernacular is much more than an academic discipline, it is the heart of his artistic expression, a visual language that he lives fully. 

A headshot of Duffy

Duffy

Artist

Duffy is an award-winning artist, filmmaker, physical and Visual Vernacular performer. He has created work for Zoo Co and Deafinitely theatre; has lead workshops at London International Mime festival, Soho Theatre; and has toured internationally at festivals such as Festival Clin D’Oeil, Reims.