Christine Sun Kim’s artistic practice often assumes the daunting task of rendering elements of American Sign Language (ASL)—an inherently imagistic, dynamic, and three-dimensional language—in a two-dimensional realm. “Ghost(ed) Notes,” one such mural by Kim, featuring rippled musical staffs, rounded in some places, with notes hovering around them, is on display on the east facade of the Henry Art Center in Seattle until June 2025. To create the sketch above—part of the mural, which is made of vinyl on a steel frame—Kim took inspiration from how a musical staff would be represented in ASL. Typical staffs have five lines, but Kim’s have four, reflecting how one would sign it in ASL: The dominant hand drags across the signing space with the thumb tucked behind the other four fingers (resulting in four fingers, or lines, through space).
Ghost(ed) Notes, 2024 by Christine Sun Kim. Vinyl and steel frame mural. (Credit: François Ghebaly Gallery)
In this way, Kim melds graphic and musical notation with ASL to uniquely address her experience as a Deaf individual in a hearing-centric world. She also explores the idea of being “ghosted”—a colloquial term for the abrupt shutdown of communication without explanation. “Discussions around a show can grind to a halt when I ask for what I need, such as ASL interpreters,” she says. Kim explains that the staff lines in her drawing “go out of their way to avoid seeing or running into the notes,” which she compares to “a very typical awkward social situation.” Her musical score, marked by obvious gaps and notes beyond audibility, prompts the viewer to reflect on accessibility, ableist exclusion, and the effect of omissions on communication and connection. For Kim the composition conjures the way “sign language interpreters affect [her] voice.” “They aren’t neutral vehicles,” she adds. “If my interpreter’s comedic timing or specific tone isn’t right, my jokes don’t land.” Links to more of Kim’s work can be accessed on her website, christinesunkim.com.
