After nearly a decade exploring the role of art in advancing the education and rights of people with disabilities, Dominican artist and activist Noa Batlle presented a portrait exhibition of Dominican Deaf students using Dominican Sign Language. Since 2013, Batlle has worked with the Deaf community, collaborating with students from three different public schools in La Romana and Santo Domingo. Each portrait narrated a different story of resilience and the fight for social justice.

The exhibition functioned not only as an artistic project, but also as a civic call: a demand for Congress to approve Dominican Sign Language as an official national language. In large letters across the gallery, the exhibition displayed the final letter sent by the National Association of the Deaf to Congress urging the passage of the sign language law.

The exhibition also featured an installation of three chairs: one labeled “Deaf Person,” another “Sign Language Interpreter,” and the third “Congress/Press.” This symbolic arrangement emphasized the urgent need for dialogue, and during the exhibition a Dominican senator met with the president of the National Association for the Deaf for the first time.