A Hearing-Impaired Student’s Successful Artistic Expressions

Art is a tool that transcends all barriers of communication, language, culture, and vocabulary. It is here to stay, now and forever, waiting to be explored and expanded to greater heights and depths of human emotions and experiences. Nikeel Iyer knows this firsthand, as after being born hearing impaired, he has used art to express himself and communicate most effectively with those around him and the rest of the world.

After growing up in New Delhi, India, Iyer took up a course in Animation and Gaming Technology in Gurgaon, Haryana. After that, he joined the prestigious Parson’s School of Design in New York City. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts there in 2019. Currently, he is taking further advanced art certification courses in New York.

“It has been a long and arduous journey filled with challenges and hard work, especially as a disabled student,” Iyer says. “I have learned a lot and continue to learn new life lessons every day.”

In his day-to-day life, Iyer uses hearing aids, cell phones, Facetime, transcription services, speech-to-text systems, and much more to communicate with others. Art allows him to simplify his communication process and uniquely express himself.

“Art is a tool that transcends all barriers of communication, language, culture, and vocabulary,” he says. “It is here to stay, now and forever, waiting to be explored and expanded to greater heights and depths of human emotions and experiences. Human angst and universal issues of the self and our cosmos, need to be expressed creatively.”

Nikheel enjoys creating Neo-Expressionism, Pop Art, and Conceptual Art. He is also heavily influenced by Japanese comic art culture. Each one of these art styles relates back to the experiences that Iyer has been through in his life. He specifically feels that his unique perspective, as a disabled, Indian, millennial artist, allows him to create art that is different from other artists.

“In my solitary world, I explore the conflict of the individual versus the community, and the self versus the cosmos, in myriad ways,” he explains. “I see the world in various hues and shades depending on whether I am in silence or noise.”

Each one of Iyer’s pieces focuses on human emotions, strengths, and vulnerabilities. He likes to explore the multiple personas of the human psyche that he views as threatening to come out. These ideas are all loosely related to Iyer’s own life, successes, and struggles.

“My achievements and my struggles make for a whole host of questions, fears, doubts, anxieties, and opinions,” he says. “Some of my work looks at intelligence colliding with rage and frustration, and a lack of meaningful human interactions and fulfilling bonds. All of this is based on my life experiences.”

Nikheel has big plans for his future, but he also realizes that he has achieved a large amount of success in his life already. He has overcome multiple obstacles and plans on using his experiences to continue to grow, both in his life and in his artistic expression.

“ Success, for me, is the ability to confront and deal inventively with the obstacles that come my way,” he expresses. “Success lies in finding ways out of a labyrinth of hazy issues in a strange world. Success is knowing I am different and rising up like a phoenix out of my own charred remains.”

Just being able to communicate is a success for Iyer. Added to that, his ability to express himself through quality pieces of art and Iyer can be seen as a uniquely talented individual with a very bright future, one that will continue to be molded by what he experiences and what he has overcome.