Susan Dupor
Susan Dupor
Susan Dupor was born deaf. She grew up in Madison, WI, where she attended "hearing impaired" mainstream programs from kindergarten through 12th grade. In 1987, she enrolled in the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) as a cross-registered RIT student majoring in Illustration. She then worked for a year in an animation studio before going on to earn a Masters of Science in Deaf Education and Art Education from the University of Rochester and NTID. She taught at NTID for three years before she moved back to Wisconsin, where she teaches art at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf.
Susan’s piece “Family Dog” uses feelings of typical isolated Deaf children living with non-Signing hearing families. The faces of the other members of the family are blurred, which likens the experience of lipreading to the experience of listening to a TV program disrupted by static. The deaf child, who wears hearing aids, is likened to a family pet that is patted on the head while being told “Good girl, good girl”.