John Browne Ayés
Unstill Life

By Aaron Shulman
August/September 2005

Picture Gallery

When John Browne Ayés lost his hearing in 1997, he also lost his data entry job. His Taino ancestry, which he explored on a trip to Puerto Rico, inspired his next step. He returned to his passion for painting and began brushing his heritage onto canvas. This year, the 59-year-old presented 300 prints of his painting “Mi Orgullo” to the Florida state legislature.

“My hearing loss has been compensated with a deeper and sharper sense of vision,” says Ayés, who is married and has a 38-year-old son.

Like a colorful impasto, Ayés’s story reveals many layers. He is colorblind as well; his world is black and white. But that has only enriched his painting. “I’ve developed the ability to stretch any color into the multiplicity of its monochromatic scale,” the artist says. He also volunteers as a painting instructor for other colorblind people as well as cancer patients.

Ayés’s triumphs have given him a sage outlook: “People who are disabled discover they’ve been given a special gift that replaces a specific sense they are deficient in.”

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