ASL Performance | Justin Perez

Participants in the ASL community are invited to watch a new collaboration between Visual Vernacular performer Justin Perez and the Jewish Museum. This interwoven collection of stories, including two original pieces, is inspired by works of art in the Jewish Museum collection.

About Justin Perez:

Justin Perez is a Visual Vernacular Performer, educator and consultant owner. He is also one of co-host for VV underground monthly on Facebook Live and YouTube, a space for Deaf community to creatively play with VV through performance and storytelling.

About Visual Vernacular:
Visual Vernacular is a unique form of American Sign Language performance, with elements of poetry and mime developed by Deaf artists. This powerful storytelling style combines strong movement and classifier ASL signs, with gestures and facial expressions, to capture the world in all its visual complexity. Cinematic effects are key features of performance, such as creating long shots or zoom, playing with fast or slow motion, and panoramic views. Role shifting is another way to play with storytelling. An artist can use movement to morph into different characters, or even objects, to help build a story. By combining these techniques, artists create a very visually exciting and accessible way to enhance storytelling.