I aim to create an entry point into the critical and necessary cognitive dissonance required to grapple with challenging issues such as institutional racism, oppression, and complicity. Building off of my foundational training in curriculum development and anti-oppressive teaching strategies, I combine these principles with arts- and object-based learning, speculation, and creation. By interweaving these practices into my experiential design process, I have discovered that the participating community experiences dissonance—followed by emergence.
In practice, this looks like asking the community to focus on a justice-oriented question and then making something. The something to make often reads as innocuous—a drawing with markers, a few notes on paper. But, I find that this approach is both a palatable entry point into interrogating oppressions and a potent source of dissonance. As a result, my work was once described as “subtle and deeply destabilizing.”
Moreover, my training in education underscores the learning potential of creating something. The experience of crafting something reveals its layers as well as lessons, ideas, and possible evolutions. These creations are always greater than what they look like, and they can spark something greater such as social change and action. I believe this is the goal of all social justice work, and I hope to foster this inspiration in the experiences I design.