“Art is my way of expressing my hearing”

You just know that 17-year-old Olivia Strang is going to make her mark on the world.

The Glendowie College student, who lists art as one of her favourite subjects, has just closed out a successful Year 12 which saw one of her paintings based on the theme “who am I”? voted as the People’s Choice award in her school art exhibition.

Olivia has also been known to turn her hand to creative writing and has enjoyed writing about the importance of hearing to her. Her poem, entitled ‘Sound’ was included in The Hearing House’s Christmas card a few years ago.

Olivia, who has had bilateral cochlear implants since she was nearly two years old, says she gets inspiration for her art and writing through feelings and memories.

“I’ve always wanted to do an artwork that expresses my hearing and the exhibition gave me the perfect opportunity to explore that,” she says.

Her painting, The Little Things (pictured below), is designed to remind people that hearing is a precious and unique sense and shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Olivia Strang's artwork, The Little Things

“My purpose was also for people to stop and be in the moment and to think about their favourite sound and the things that they’re grateful for in their lives,” she adds.

She says she wanted her painting to reflect her cochlear implant journey, through the use of colour, shading and imagery.

“The colours in the painting represent sound and the different shades represent the differing emotions within sounds,” she says.

“The cochlear implants are shaped like a heart to represent my love for sound, hearing and communication.

“The heart also represents the love that I have for my family.

“I would hope people also connect with the hearing elements of the painting and the fact that these small devices are amazing,” she says.

“They can allow all of us to be able to connect and communicate.”

Olivia’s bilateral implants were fitted under the care of the Southern Cochlear Implant Programme (SCIP) team in Christchurch in October 2010, in the aftermath of the city’s devastating earthquake. Surgeons performing her implant had to endure aftershocks and the hospital closed shortly after her surgery.

She was one of the first paediatric patients in New Zealand to receive devices made by MED-EL, an Austrian-based company that specialises in implantable hearing solutions.

When she was nine years old, she won a children’s global inventors’ competition run by MED-EL with a smoke alarm detector patch that connects to her implant sites when her processors are off at night-time. Her prize was a trip to Austria, so together with parents Alice and Richard and sisters Sophie and Hannah, she spent five weeks travelling around Europe, including spending time in Innsbruck at the Med El Headquarters, and meeting other young cochlear implant recipients and their families.

She says her experience at both The Hearing House and SCIP has helped shape who she is today, and she and her family are grateful for the care and assistance they’ve received from the teams there.

“The Hearing House has served as a physical place to remind me that there are other people who also have the same experience as me, but that everyone has their own hearing journey,” she says.

“My journey started with the team at SCIP, and as a family, we’re forever grateful for the support they gave us from the start.”

Olivia’s artwork, The Little Things, is currently on display at The Hearing House.

Olivia with her artwork at The Hearing House