In Lip Service, together with hard-of-hearing performer Athena Lange, Ania Nowak draws from the visual expression of silent films to explore ways of communicating not based on the sense of hearing and verbal language.

Nowak and Lange use lip movements, facial expressions, gestures of lesbian desire, and German sign language.They create a sort of manifesto, in which they denounce some transgressions of those who hear against the d/Deaf. They upend the hierarchy and expose a hearing audience ignorant of sign language to the difficulty of lip-reading.

And what if the d/Deaf ruled the world?

“I want a d/Deaf dyke for president!” signs Lange, paraphrasing the first line of artist and activist Zoe Leonard’s I Want a Dyke for President of 1992. The practice of the title—a service performed by the lips—need not limit itself to forming tidy verbal messages. It can also involve spitting, kissing, or licking. In this erotic game, Nowak (the hearing person) turns into a submissive student and surrenders control to her partner. Lange takes the role of the dominatrix—the caretaker and teacher—introducing Nowak to her experience of d/Deaf culture and sign language. In this piece, the pleasure arising from sharing experience and eroticism becomes a tool for both performers’ transformation. Lip Service does not want to meet the expectations of the hearing majority toward the d/Deaf.