Through the silence, Laurie Shapiro still hears the message.

Shapiro, who lives with a genetic condition causing her to progressively go deaf, often listens to her inner world.

“I don’t always hear the outside world,” said Shapiro, a Carnegie Mellon University graduate who lives in Los Angeles. “But I hear an inner world. My inner voices are louder than my outer voices.”

Shapiro has found a way to express herself through artwork. Her most recent creation for Laurie Shapiro Art is “We Are All Connected To Each Other Through Nature.” It’s being displayed at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s 64th annual Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival.

This is the final weekend to view it. The festival closes on Sunday.

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