Shannon Rusnak

— About Shannon

I'm a Deaf designer and artist from Calgary, Alberta. Being Deaf means I'm profoundly deaf and use American Sign Language. It is my cultural identity because my deafness permeates everything I do, including art and design. The lowercase word "deaf" is the medical context of hearing status, which certainly applies to me. But it isn't what I mean when I call myself Deaf.

My first experience with web design was when I made a website for journaling way back in the 90's, before blogging and social media went mainstream. The website didn't last long because I fell in love with design and decided to go to university for that. Although I ended up graduating with a degree in a different field that has more to do with technology, that's a story for another time.

Outside of design work, I'm an artist who enjoy creating sculptures and art installations, sometimes with 3D projection mapping, generative and interactive digital art. As my overall art practice is an exploration of Deafhood using art and technology, my interests include finding ways to express those ideas to audiences who have not lived with hearing loss and are unfamiliar with sign language.

As a designer and artist, I work on a wide variety of projects and it's why I enjoy what I do. So you'll see a mix of projects in my portfolio!