130-year-old sketches of deaf man’s everyday life in Bristol to go on display as part of Sign Festival Bristol this weekend

Find out more about Sign Festival Bristol here!

From high wire walkers in Bristol Zoo Gardens to the launch of the Clifton Rocks Railway, deaf artist Harry Bow spent his days in Victorian Bristol sketching everything he saw.

Harry’s work and life are to be celebrated in a new exhibition by Bristol-based arts organisation Spectroscope at the Sign Festival Bristol this weekend, which is taking place across Watershed and Bristol Beacon. Founder of Spectroscope, Cathy Mager, is dedicated to revealing lost and hidden history; the exhibition is a summary of 2,000 diary pages and several hundred newspaper articles.

Amid her research, Cathy uncovered a rare first-person account of Harry visiting a doctor on Whiteladies Road to get a hearing assessment and be fitted with a ‘golden ear trumpet’ – a device it was hoped would improve his hearing. Another important discovery was an account of Harry being awarded with a prize from the then director of Victoria & Albert Museum, who was very condescending and diminished Harry’s achievement because he thought Harry incapable of conversation.

Both stories have been retold from a deaf cultural perspective, as Cathy Mager herself is a deaf artist and curator. Despite over a century between them, the link between Harry Bow and Cathy Mager is compounded by Harry’s drawings of ‘magic lantern shows’, depictions of early image projectors, which are an important inspiration to Spectroscope.

Cathy says: “This project has been a labour of love, but I am confident when the people of Bristol see Harry’s drawings, they will experience the same fascination that I have. It is amazing to see the city I call home depicted in drawings from over a century ago by a fellow deaf artist and I have felt a sense of comradery with Harry from learning about his life and experiences”.

Lynn Stewart-Taylor, director of Sign Festival Bristol, says: “We are absolutely delighted to feature such an important aspect of Deaf history within Bristol’s artistic heritage as part of this year’s Sign Festival. Cathy’s exhibition places a deaf artist whose work might have otherwise been lost to the consigns of history at the centre of an enthralling exhibition, and one that we are confident Harry would have been very proud to see. Anyone who lives in Bristol will find this exhibition fascinating”.

Visitors to Sign Festival Bristol will be able to see what life in Bristol was like from the perspective of a working class and deaf Victorian artist. From annual swimming races in the Avon to hot air balloons taking off from Horfield, attendees will enjoy spotting places they know and recognise from Bristol over a century ago.

As part of Sign Festival Bristol, Cathy Mager will also be taking to the stage at Watershed at 5.15pm on Friday 18 October for a panel discussion ahead of a screening about the making of Spectroscope’s brand-new project Night Bloom. Night Bloom will premiere at the Science Gallery in London in November as part of Vital Signs: Another World Is Possible.

Find out more about Sign Festival Bristol here!