Chella has always used his platforms to spark dialogue and be the representation that he didn’t have growing up. Those at the intersection of multiple different identities often had few figures in the public eye to look up to and learn from. When Chella was younger and started gaining visibility at 17, the pressure to share his journey and “show up” for his communities was certainly real. “Then I realised this fight for representation is so much bigger than me”, Chella explains. “I am not the only Deaf person, I am not the only trans person, I am not the only genderqueer person.” Chella likens his impact to a door he’s wedged his foot in and is prying open on behalf of those that can’t. “We need to send everyone through. We need as many stories as we can get.”
The first time Chella realised the weight of influence and representation was after watching a Ted Talk by Christine Sun Kim, a Deaf Asian artist. “Seeing her speak so unabashedly and unapologetically about her identities showed me the potential that my future could have, which is what representation is at its very core. It allows you to envision a future for yourself.” And now, Chella presents his own unique array of identities front and centre, allowing himself to be that representation for his almost half a million followers (and that’s just on Instagram).
Among his identities, his role as an artist is certainly a prominent one, both on his platform and throughout his life. Chella uses his art to tell a story while provoking his audience to think deeper as they reflect on what lies before them. One of Chella’s projects, “Big Deaf”, highlights stereotypes of the Deaf community and forces the viewer to reconcile with how they may be perpetuating an ableist mindset with their preconceived notions of how a Deaf person should behave. “Being Deaf isn’t a stereotype. It’s a continuum.”
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Chella’s latest work, titled “Is It Worth It?” is a performance piece where Chella considered the possibility of getting pregnant as a trans, masc, genderqueer individual. The purpose is to probe the audience, encouraging viewers to rethink gender and pregnancy norms and perhaps just challenge what people thought was or wasn’t possible. “But also how would society see me? Am I ready for the constant labour that it would take to remain centred and take the discrimination? How would this affect my gender dysphoria?” Again meant to spark discourse in a sphere that has too long been ignored, Chella confronts viewers with these hard-hitting questions, questions that the general population may not consider in their lifetime.
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The impact Chella has created and the communities he has reached spread far and wide. “It just means so much to me when individuals share that they have found representation through me. That still blows my mind.” Chella recounts how some as young as 11 have stopped him on the street and thanked him for shedding light on their identity while encouraging them to freely exist as their true selves. “To be that young, it just hits me very intimately because that’s an age where I wished I had some kind of role model in that way.” Chella has had many phenomenal firsts: the first role model for many, the first Deaf actor cast by DC Universe for his role in “Titans” and the first Deaf and trans-masculine model signed with IMG Models. And with his foot wedged firmly in the door to usher others in, Chella certainly won’t be the last.
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