Christine Sun Kim, the Transgressive Deaf Artist, Will Sign the National Anthem Alongside Demi Lovato During the Super Bowl

In less than a week, Christine Sun Kim will perform
for an audience of nearly 100 million people watching the Super
Bowl. The artist, known for her transgressive distillations of
sound and language, will deliver her American Sign Language
rendition of the National Anthem as the pop musician Demi Lovato
sings from nearby on stage.

At age 40, the Berlin-based American artist was
stunned when she received the offer to represent the non-hearing
community in what has become an annual partnership between the
National Football League (NFL) and the National Association of the
Deaf (NAD). Few artists, including herself, could ever imagine
themselves performing at the center of a football stadium—let alone
during one of America’s most-watched sporting events.

The honor comes at a moment when the art world is
watching closely to see what Kim does next. Her text paintings that
chart the degrees of “Deaf Rage” she has experienced while
navigating airports, museums, and other institutions were
prominently featured in the 2019 Whitney Biennial. And over the
summer, Kim joined seven other artists in promising to withdraw
their work from the exhibition if Warren Kanders was not removed
from the museum’s board of trustees. (The vice chairman later resigned.) Early next
month, the artist will debut new work in a solo exhibition at the
MIT List Visual Arts Center.

Before heading down to Miami for Super Bowl Sunday, we
had a chance to interview the artist about how she was chosen for
the opportunity, why she accepted, and what this kind of exposure
means for the Deaf community.

How does an artist end up signing the National
Anthem at the Super Bowl? Was there a selection process or were you
chosen by the National Association of the Deaf (NAD)?

Every year before the Super Bowl, the NAD looks for a
Deaf person who represents the signing community. They ask
potential candidates to submit audition videos of their signing
style to assess their expression level and to ensure that their
delivery is well.

When Alexis Kashar, a Deaf civil rights attorney, and
Howard Rosenblum, CEO of the NAD, asked me to send them a video, I
took a stab at translating it [the National Anthem] into American
Sign Language, which has an entirely different syntax and grammar
compared to English. I guess I was expressive enough for the
gig!

What was your reaction to the offer? What does
something like this mean for the Deaf community?

I was a bit stunned that they even considered me.
Honestly, I’m not exactly big on watching signed songs or
interpreted music. The Deaf community has this amazing group of
poets who can really sign with so much rhythm; however, the ones
who sign songs written by non-deaf people get so much more
attention because that’s the kind of content the hearing world
values.

With the NFL’s massive platform, we can actually bring
sign language to millions of homes. Representation matters a great
deal to me, and I hope that seeing a Deaf person signing the anthem
will bring attention to various issues that plague our community:
language-deprived deaf babies, police brutality towards disabled
people, a lack of mental health services, and many others.

The biggest reason why I have decided to perform,
however, is because I’m so damn patriotic as a Deaf person.
Compared to other countries, America has it good—although not
perfect—when it comes to disability laws. (Fun fact: The NAD is the
oldest civil rights organization in America, founded in 1880.) When
I was younger, I was able to get an education with interpreters,
watch TV shows and movies with captions, and make phone calls with
online interpreters for the entirety of my life. I want to
represent that very aspect of privilege while signing the
anthem.

It’s certainly an honor to represent the Deaf
community at one of America’s most-watched events. Did you ever
imagine that you’d be at the center of a football stadium? (Are you
even a fan of football?)

Never in my life would I have imagined doing this! I’m
already having nightmares about forgetting the lyrics while
performing. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever been
to an NFL game, but I grew up watching my Korean American relatives
rooting for their teams on TV, especially the 49ers.

Other than watching the commercials, football was
never a big part of my life. But the Super Bowl is an opportunity
to have a platform for my community. Since the game is hosted by a
different broadcast each year, the airtime isn’t guaranteed; this
year, it’s entirely up to FOX to decide how much they’ll show me on
their channel—hopefully at least for a few seconds.

The model and actor Nyle DiMarco recently
performed the National Anthem at the NBA Finals. I saw that you’ve
been talking over Twitter. Did you know
each other before you got the Super Bowl offer? Has he given you
any good advice for the big day?

We met through a mutual friend a couple of years ago
and we’ve been hitting it off ever since. He told me to just have
fun and sign. I think that’s good advice.

What does one wear to perform at the Super
Bowl?

NAD and the NFL actually have some basic criteria.
Wear shoes that would be good for walking on turf. My shirt must be
flexible enough for me to sign big; I also can’t wear any wild
patterns that would make my signing hands less legible for deaf
viewers. No sheer material just in case it rains—those kinds of
things. I’m particularly excited to announce that I will be wearing
an outfit designed by Opening Ceremony, which was founded by two
Asian Americans.

There’s not usually a lot of overlap between
art and sports. Damien Hirst has a fascination with pool; Jeff
Koons sometimes uses basketballs in his work; Andy Warhol took
polaroids of sports stars; and Hank Willis Thomas once said that
sports can be seen as a proxy for war. What’s your relationship
with sports, and do you see any connections to your art practice?
Should we expect some football-inspired artworks on the
horizon?

Haha, maybe. I think as a typical American, I played
my fair share of sports when I was a kid. I did many years of
gymnastics and swimming, but was never that good. I remember during
the 1990s, there was a trend amongst local newspapers to feature
deaf high school athletes. Basically, “Wow, deaf athletes are
normal like us, they do sports!” It was pre-social media
inspiration porn.

Also, I’ve always been a closeted cheerleader. I once
auditioned for the cheer squad in high school and didn’t make the
cut. It’s funny, now every time I practice signing the anthem, it
makes me think about how my own big movements are so similar to
cheerleading. I’ve been thinking about translating my performance
into a video work. My interest in cheerleading also got renewed
because of the Netflix docuseries Cheer. Everyone needs a Monica in their
lives!

Your art can be very political. When you were
asked to sign the National Anthem, was there any hesitancy on your
part? If so, why?

My art has always been political—mainly because my
identity and language are both politically charged to begin with.
Being the first Deaf Asian American to sign the anthem is going to
be surreal! It makes me think of watching Margaret Cho’s historic
“All-American Girl” television series as a teen. That just
completely blew my mind.

There are always political considerations in each
performance, and I did have initial concerns with the Super Bowl
opportunity. But ultimately, the idea of bringing ASL visibility to
millions of people won the argument. I will also release a personal
statement in the near future explaining why I chose to perform.

The post Christine Sun Kim, the Transgressive Deaf Artist,
Will Sign the National Anthem Alongside Demi Lovato During the
Super Bowl appeared first on artnet News.