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Professional Identity
“I am a systems thinking design researcher dedicated to understanding, building and storytelling counterpowers. I work at the intersection of disciplines and apply anarchist participatory design methods.”
Halfway through high school, the first signs of who I would become began to show. I became interested in politics and started to fathom the injustices of our world. Over the years I have trained my critical eye. Not only do I criticise what I see around me, I also acknowledge my privilege and responsibility to do something about it. In my climate and social justice activism I can express my concerns to their fullest. Being that expressive calls for vulnerability. I put myself in positions where I know I will be met with opposition. I dare to show my emotions, rather than approach today’s crises with logics only. At the same time, I recognise my humility and reflect that I do not hold the truth.
With my imagination at hand and a bunch of books within reach, I have learned to see alternative visions of the world as futures already in the making. This is where the creative in me comes in. I hold a love for all that can be, but not yet is. I value putting matters out into the world which reflect possibility in an open-ended way. I am a storyteller who is skilled in making visuals and ‘things’ which mediate the interaction between people, rather than between an object and an individual.
I am a systems thinker who analyses the connections between affairs in a holistic way. Taking a theoretical approach allows me to engage with large-scale issues. I am curious and love to take in information that grows my understanding of the world. I layer and nuance learnings into a web of ever-growing complexity. I am a pragmatic researcher who is always looking at how insights can be communicated and applied. I can struggle with concretising at the beginning of a project, but once it has taken a direction, I blossom. It is in this phase I can practice my theoretical and visual storytelling skills, for example by analysing and visualising research outcomes.
I function best within multidisciplinary, self-organised and horizontal teams. At the intersection of disciplines, I can employ my unique set of soft and hard skills and express myself. Because of my holistic way of thinking, I can take on a facilitating role, but I do not necessarily need to, as long as I have agency over my own work.
As someone who feels deeply connected to the world, I am no stranger to feeling the weight of it. I acknowledge my being human and I celebrate joy nonetheless. This, to me, is what resistance looks like.
Vision
“People have always been good at imagining the end of the world, which is much easier to picture than the strange sidelong paths of change in a world without end.” – Rebecca Solnit, Hope in the Dark
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The oppressions of our time make it hard to see hope in the dark. As polished as our systems may seem to those who benefit from it, racism, misogyny, ableism and many other forms of discrimination are still perpetuated. The unequal power dynamic between the global North and global South is alive as ever, exploited by companies operating in the neo-colonialist, capitalist system. Nature is abused for seemingly eternal growth on a planet of limited resources. Scientists are unanimous: the climate crisis is here and we need to act now or we will face frequent natural disasters, mass refugee streams, failed crops, and overall immense human and non-human suffering.
Design which does not actively and openly counteract the status quo, secures it. Overwhelming amounts of products are fuelling consumerism, encouraged by marketing telling us we need them. Philanthropic design perpetuates the colonial narrative of the poor and incompetent person of colour who needs help from the white saviour. It lacks socio-cultural sensitivity and ignores the individual’s agency. With inherently unsustainable infrastructures it is sometimes better not to design.
At the same time, there are also utopias in the making. They reside in actions done in solidarity, mutual aid and love. Communities all over the world show us there are different ways of relating to each other and the natural world. In times of crisis, people continuously prove themselves to come together. They organise themselves horizontally and do the work that must be done. They rise up against injustice and form communities reflecting their values.
The myth of the status quo is that the systems in place have always existed and are here to stay. The only thing certain about paradigms, however, is that they will change. As difficult as it is to imagine the upturning of our lives, much of how we understand the world is based on stories collectively upheld. As designers and researchers, I believe we can let people experience little utopias and be part of the societal transformation. Speculative design makes alternative futures tangible and anarchist design aims to build counterpowers in the here and now. The design (research) process itself is the perfect playground for exploring alternative ways of organising. By applying participatory design methods, people become aware of their agency. It may be the role of designers to facilitate these processes. However, I believe it is necessary to stop seeing design as a practice which only formally educated designers can perform. Imagination, creation and facilitation resides in many of us, and change becomes possible when together we take control over our lives. Let’s get our hands dirty, smash the patriarchy and revolutionise society.