Constructing the ABCs of Arts Advocacy
The first sound Sarah Vojnovich remembers hearing was the lap of her dog’s tongue in his water bowl. She was 10 years old and had just received a cochlear implant. Suddenly, the world resounded.
American Sign Language was Vojnovich’s first language. Having been diagnosed at 18 months with profound sensorineural hearing loss, she spent the next nine years learning to sign, read lips and even speak before the cochlear implant brought a cascade of new tones and timbres into her right ear. It would be another nine years before her left ear received the same awakening.
Drawn to visual art — and especially photography — as a child, Vojnovich won art contests in elementary school. She got her first camera, a pink Nikon COOLPIX, at age 13.
“It was my favorite thing ever,” she said.