Birds Between Silence and Color
A Short Film by Ian Sanborn

This film explores what happens when I step outside of sign language and into tai chi — a universal language of movement, gesture, and rhythm. As a Deaf artist, I have gone deep into sign language, but here I reset by returning to something more primal: the visual expressions that existed long before English or any spoken language.

Through tai chi, I search for balance between dance and discipline, silence and color, past and future. It is an act of relearning — a way to communicate beyond complication and to connect with friends, family, and strangers across the world. Above all, I do this because the practice brings me calm.