Leah Jackson

The Barrier Between Us

This work reflects the inner struggle of being unseen and unheard. The face, half-hidden by hair and shadow, presses against an invisible surface while the hand shields and reaches at once. It suggests both self-protection and a plea for connection. The glass becomes a metaphorical barrier, muting expression and preventing true understanding.

For Deaf people, communication through British Sign Language is often met with barriers, misunderstanding, exclusion, or dismissal. This image captures the emotional toll of those barriers, the isolation of being present but not fully recognised.

The obscured face symbolises the silencing of identity, while the reaching hand embodies the desire to break through, to be acknowledged, and to be seen. This piece is a visual echo of what it feels like to exist behind silence, where voices without sound still struggle to be heard.

Echoes of Pain

This work reflects the complex relationship between deafness, mental health, and expression. The hand, scarred and reaching, represents both vulnerability and resilience. In Deaf culture, hands are voices — they shape thought into British Sign Language, making the invisible visible. Yet here, the fractured glass becomes a barrier, distorting that voice and muting expression. It symbolises the challenges Deaf people face when their language is misunderstood or dismissed, leaving emotions trapped beneath the surface

The surrounding darkness conveys the silence of internal struggles, while the raw, splintered textures echo the pain of being unheard. At the same time, the act of reaching through the barrier hints at strength, persistence, and the determination to be seen.

Through this image, Echoes of Pain calls attention not only to the unseen battles of mental health, but also to the importance of breaking barriers so that every voice spoken or signed, can be fully recognised.

Silent Shout

This work represents the experience of drowning in silence. The distorted face, pressed against the foggy surface, evokes the image of a person trapped beneath ice — thrashing, screaming for help, yet no sound can pass through. The struggle is suffocating, a silent drowning in which survival depends not only on the will to fight, but on being seen and understood by others above the surface.

For Deaf people, this metaphor resonates deeply: the ice becomes a barrier of misunderstanding, clouded by stigma and isolation. Those on the surface cannot see clearly through the fog, nor hear the cries beneath, leaving the person submerged in an unseen battle.

And yet, drowning is not the end. Ice can melt. Warmth, love, empathy, and compassion become the heat that clears the fog and breaks the barrier. Only then can the face beneath the ice be recognised, the voice understood, and the person saved from silence.

This image embodies the fragile line between isolation and connection, reminding us of the urgent need to melt the barriers that keep people drowning unheard.