The Politics of…

Rules encourage mindlessness. Rules are for the complacent. It is critical that one question why things are the way they are, and to ask oneself why one complies so readily. Criticality is at the root of my design work. Examining rules and re-examining them with an evermore probing eye, I endeavor to clarify the difference between actionable knowing and blind indifference. I am especially interested in exposing the myriad ways we forego our autonomy and unquestionably accept so-called authorized news. For example, the ways in which we engage in politics online and on social media platforms—how we conform to those mediums and their algorithms—serves only to confirm our biases. Why should we have to pay for information or be threatened with imprisonment if we illicitly download a song? We live in a world where 90% of the media we consume comes from only six companies. This is alarming, to say the least. My practice as a designer is to engage my viewers in ways that induces them to question so-called societal givens and to practice mindful, not blind, consumption.