Chelle Destefano is a Deaf multi-disciplinary artist whose work is heavily influenced by navigating an audist (hearing-dominated) world, growing up in the isolation of country Victoria and escaping into the adventurous universe of computer games. As a recent graduate of the Master of Contemporary Art at the Victorian College of the Arts, and with exhibition credits in Venice and Paris, Chelle’s arts practice is evolving at a rapid pace. In this interview, Chelle discusses her first steps towards independence, meeting the right collaborators and her upcoming project featuring at Junction Footscray.
Chelle’s video work is a part of Junction Footscray in the video and light program curated by Trocadero Projects.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your creative practice.
I’m a Deaf multi-disciplinary artist working with a range of disciplines including drawing, printmaking, painting textiles including weaving, poetry, performance and video work and sculpture including soft sculpture. I recently completed my Masters of Contemporary Art at VCA at Melbourne University.
How did you start your creative practice and why?
My whole creative practice began when I graduated from my Visual Arts degree in Adelaide when I lived in Adelaide for 18 years between 2000 and 2017 where I was mainly painting and drawing acrylic and watercolours, with some digital art. That changed as soon as I moved back to Melbourne end of 2017 and I started to really explore my practice and learnt more about myself particularly when I started my Masters of Contemporary Art at Melb uni in 2020 and when I met my dear friend and current collaborator, Claire Bridge with whom I have been working on a major Deaf arts project called ‘What I Wish I’d Told You’ due to be exhibited on 23rd July, opening 3pm at Footscray Community Arts Centre. I started to learn more about myself as a Deaf person, what made me tick, how the struggles with living in an audist world (hearing dominated) affected myself and the Deaf community. I started to do performance art, poetry, textiles and sculpture, and now weaving and printmaking, all informing my research on my Deaf experiences and how I convey them through dance methods and textiles all combined in one work. I still paint and draw but my painting and drawing methods have shifted to a more critical nuance of thinking and a style that adopts depth and thinking, rather than the literal sense.
Where did you grow up and has it influenced what you create?
I grew up in Melbourne’s South Gippsland area in Narre Warren and then Devon Meadows before I moved out of home to live in Adelaide at age 21 so I could grow and evolve, as I had been isolated for years on a farm with not much social interaction to allow my social skills to develop. That changed as soon as I left home and gained my independence, looking at the world in new lens and allowing myself to absorb lessons thrown at me. I used these growth experiences in my paintings back in the early 2000s while an art student from 2001 and shortly after graduating in 2006. While I lived at home, growing up, I would entertain myself with computer games, the thinking kind, not shoot em ups – don’t like them. I enjoyed many adventure games and they took me into a different world and was the first thing that inspired my artistic self. I started playing computer games when I was 2 but the proper adventure games came into my life when I was 7 where the graphics (that seemed superior for their time in the 1980s) really sparked up my creative sense.
Tell us about your past creative projects. What has been a highlight so far?
A couple of my past creative projects include earlier works of the ‘Blue Ghost’ series that involved drawing, painting and a bit of collage. Those works were successfully exhibited in Melbourne and then Venice, Italy and Paris in 2015 and 2016. Later my more successful projects included my poetry performance works and performance artworks with textiles included and many of these works got into art awards as well as my newer works on paper which included drawing from more recent times that were around my Deaf language Auslan.
Who or what inspires your practice?
No one really, I have so many artists I look up to and currently I enjoy Ema Shin’s textile works, and Kate Just’s knitted works, and I enjoy many performance artists works, too many to name.
Where do you feel most creative?
I feel most at home, and in a safe space when I’m creating. I’m happiest when I’m creating my own works from my ideas and experiences.
What gets you through challenging creative/ industry times?
Connecting with other artists and like minded people on zoom and sharing experiences and works in progress, and knowing I’m growing successful by the day, having won grants to help keep my practice going and evolving.
Whose work are you digging at the moment?
Ema Shin, Kate Just, Suyaotian, Sophia Cai, David Sequeria, Claire Bridge’s ceramics, Bren Luke, Elvin Lam the Deaf dancer, Kate Beynon and Christine Sun Kim
What future projects are you looking forward to?
My upcoming project is called ‘I Will Tell You Later’, a Dance performance with textiles used in it about my Deaf experience, and another called ‘Are You Tarotously’ a major drawing and textile and printmaking body of work on tarot reading and energy, and the research on how energy works.
What can we expect to see in terms of your involvement in Junction Footscray & what are you looking forward to?
My poetry performance work with only my hands visible called ‘Safe Space’ will be shown projected in Nicholson St Mall and I’m excited to see the curated works alongside and the response from viewers. I’m excited about working with Trocadero, Colour Box Studio and Junction Footscray as I have a connection with Footscray for the past couple of years since becoming a finalist in the Footscray Art Award and then later being awarded a commission with Footscray and West Space with Claire Bridge for our ‘What I Wish I’d Told You’ work and now this amazing project with Trocadero and Colour Box Studio.
Where can we find and follow you online?
You can follow me on instagram at @chelle_destefano
Junction Footscray is a free community event in the heart of Footscray, Saturday 9th July, 4-10pm. The Junction Footscray video program is curated by Trocadero Projects. Register your attendance via Eventbrite.