The portrait of profoundly deaf contemporary dancer Ana Seymour was painted by Guido van Helten on a seven storey building at Melbourne Polytechnic in January 2017. The artist, who bases himself in Brisbane but spends much of his time travelling and painting, creates site specific murals that reflect the human stories of the area. This mural is typical of his sensitive monochromatic artwork and reflects the polytechnic links to the deaf community via its Auslan diploma course and the presence of deafConnectED. Van Helten says that the image "is an interpretation of modern society and its influence on architecture."
Seymour, 32, was born profoundly deaf but has become well known in the Melbourne contemporary dance scene, appearing most recently in Under My Skin, a collaboration between deaf and hearing artists called The Delta Project. "Contemporary dance isn't only about the music," she says, explaining that despite being unable to hear anything she can sometimes "feel" music. "But I don't really rely on that. I rely on muscle memory and I rely on other bodies in the studio. I tune into their rhythms, I tune into my own rhythm."