Curation Reference: ILLARREGI019
Title: Travel, Investigations and Volunteering
Date: 2021
Author: Erika Renedo Illarregi
Details: One can conduct ethnographic research at home, too, but I believe there is also methodological value when world views crash and cultural strangers try to connect and understand one another despite all limitations. I have found that design is a great tool to do so.
Media: Quote [written]
Credit: Courtesy of the artist.
Description: It was fantastic to see how you spent the money awarded to you on travel/investigations and volunteering. Could you tell us a bit more about how these two experiences influenced your practice/continue to influence your approach to your design work today?
First of all I believe I became accustomed to be a stranger among worlds that are unknown to me. Perhaps I was shown the art of unconditional acceptance, being with ambiguity in ways that prevent rushing toward solving problems, towards stabilising. I witness cathartic moments in those temples where screams and other expressions of distress were not immediately shut down or controlled but accompanied by others who showed support and care regardless.
As designers we often want to solve problems, and sometimes forget that in doing so we are also defining the landscape of the problematic. In mental health and co-design, this is particularly relevant, and sometimes a source of conflict, too. Witnessing extremely different ways to conceptualise human distress and recovery informs a pluralist approach which I consider key for in collaborative design.
Have you traveled/volunteered as a means to generate design work since this first initial experience? (e.g. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Cambodia)
Travelling has been very important for me personal and professionally, and it is usual for me to follow a specific intrigue. For instance, I heard of Uzbekistan first in the book Master of Lucid dreams, and went there at the first opportunity. Although I have not yet have the opportunity to conduct formal research in these parts of the world, it is something that I am eager to explore in the future if and when covid limitations allow us to do so. One can conduct ethnographic research at home, too, but I believe there is also methodological value when world views crash and cultural strangers try to connect and understand one another despite all limitations. I have found that design is a great tool to do so.
