Colin Lee Fairweather
There have been several examples of deaf people who have worked as commercial artists in Australian history – this was one of the few ways they could make a living from their artistic talent. One of these deaf artists was Colin Lee Fairweather (1889-1943).Â
Colin Lee Fairweather’s deaf brother Alan Fairweather also worked as a photo-engraver for the Daily Mirror newspaper. Alan’s deaf son, Alan Jr, was keen to work as an artist too, but wartime restrictions meant he was not able to. Â
Photograph of Colin Fairweather (date unknown)
This photograph shows Colin Fairweather working at his desk, with his artist’s materials around him (date unknown).
Colin prepared artwork for advertisements. This looks like a draft or preliminary design for an advertisement for ‘Brasso’.
1988
This series of videos was made by the Adult Education Centre for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Persons Inc (this later became the Deaf Education Network and merged with the Deaf Society of NSW in 2007). The videos contain interviews with deaf elders who recount their experiences during the twentieth century across different areas of life such as school, family, community and work.
