The importance of artistic creativity when using sign language brings stories to life for people suffering from hearing loss, according to an award-winning poet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Performer, Zoe McWhinney, uses British Sign Language (BSL) and Visual Vernacular (VV) in storytelling workshops to show how adaptable and inclusive the specialist form of communication is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zoe, 27, from London, who has worked as an actor as well as alongside theatres, first became interested in poetry as a little girl, when reading bedtime stories and French comics, with her deaf family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said: \u201cI liked playing with imagination with my brothers and deaf friends growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year, Zoe was awarded second place in the BSL Poet Laureate competition hosted by the British Deaf Association, for her poem about the history of BSL. It was the first-ever national competition celebrating BSL and VV poetry in the UK, which has returned this year after a successful run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zoe\u2019s entry poem is a mixture of BSL and Visual Vernacular, or VV, which is a form of creative performance used predominantly by deaf artists which utilises BSL, mime, and physical theatre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said: \u201cIt\u2019s much more cinematic and visceral, than written poetry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n