RISD Research Perspectives

Since arriving at RISD in 1996, Anne West has transformed the landscape of graduate thesis writing across departments. Throughout her tenure as instructor, thesis advisor, critic, and faculty mentor, West has created a pedagogy centered around encouraging artists and designers to probe their practice and find new ways to articulate an individual voice. She is widely recognized nationally and internationally for her work in the area of writing and creative practice, including her book Mapping the Intelligence of Artistic Work (Moth Press, 2011), and earned the John R. Frazier Award for Excellence in Teaching at RISD in 2012. In 2010, West began curating the Graduate Thesis Biennial exhibitions which showcase graduate thesis writing and intersectional research processes contributing to the RISD Graduate thesis book. The 2023 exhibition, Interior Atlas: Ways of Research, investigates how the practice of inquiry is made visible (or makes visible the practice of thesis inquiry). It features the ‘thoughtscapes’ of nine graduate thesis writers (2021-2023) selected from various programs at RISD. The Graduate Thesis Biennial shows us that research has no parameters for artists and designers — they continue to define them. This series highlights the intersections of art, design, theory, social justice and research within the RISD community, its faculty and students. Written | Directed | Edited by Holly Gaboriault [MA Global Arts + Cultures '21]
 Original Music by Mike Delick 
Music Supervision by Elementary Music

With a background in architecture, Sergio Perdiguer Torralba focuses on two case studies addressing Colonial extraction of resources and histories. His thesis, "Palms & Propellers: Nuclear Power in the Spanish Pavilion at Expo 58", explores how the design of the Spanish Pavilion at the 1958 World Fair was influenced by the Francoist Regime’s orchestrated campaign to achieve atomic energy for Spain along with the extraction of radioactive phosphates in Western Sahara. Issues of migration and economic colonialism address how this shaped the present-day relationship between Spain and Morocco. In "Subjective Cartographies of an Erased Past", Torralba considers the design process of the RISD Museum 2008 edition of the Chace Center by internationally renown Spanish architect, Raphael Moneo, especially the architect’s omission of Providence’s dark history just steps away from Market Square - a site where enslaved people and their labor were extorted and often neglected. This series highlights the intersections of art, design, theory, social justice and research in interviewed conversations within the RISD community, its faculty and students. Written | Directed | Edited by Holly Gaboriault Original Music by Mike Delick Music Supervision by Elementary Music

Jackey Robinson is an architectural designer, maker, and educator exploring the social and communal aspects of architecture, specifically those in low-income, black, and queer spaces. From constructing urban strategies to the fabrication of architectural wearable pieces, Robinson questions how we as thinkers can expand perspectives for marginalized communities. His MArch thesis, "& The Category Is. . ." investigates architecture, apparel, and the underground Ballroom culture. He has served as Vice President of the RISD NOMA chapter (Nat'l Organization Of Minority Architects) and as a volunteer youth educator with DownCity Design. Wintersession 2022 Robinson brought his research interests to an architecture studio he taught RISD students exploring the elements of wearable architecture design, ballroom, and the figure. This series highlights the intersections of art, design, theory, social justice and research in interviewed conversations within the RISD community, its faculty and students. Written | Directed | Edited by Holly Gaboriault [MA Global Arts + Cultures '21] Original Music by Mike Delick Music Supervision by Elementary Music

Rey Londres (they/them) is a Cuban-born photographer who challenges the stereotypes and boundaries for accessibility in professional portraiture. Throughout his time at RISD, curatorial agency and activism have been the cornerstones for both their studio projects and community engagement, including an artist residency with the Providence-based Haus of Glitter. Their work with risdARC (Anti-Racism Coalition) provided a platform for co-organizing the 2022 Black Biennial, the first exhibition of its kind at RISD highlighting voices of local BIPOC communities. Promoting community care and documenting the undocumented are what Rey fluidly interweaves into a practice centered around visibility, challenging power systems, and embracing the multiplicitous identities in us all. This series highlights the intersections of art, design, theory, social justice and research in interviewed conversations within the RISD community, its faculty and students. Written | Directed | Edited by Holly Gaboriault [MA Global Arts + Cultures '21] Original Music by Mike Delick Music Supervision by Elementary Music

Arriving at RISD in 2019 as the inaugural SEI Research Fellow, Christopher Roberts is a Black Studies scholar concerned with Black geographies of memory and forgotten histories. Having worked as a museum professional in educational programming for over ten years, he continues to create dialogues untethering the entanglements of coloniality. His own intersectional research examining maps, museums, archives, and monuments pushes pedagogical boundaries as Assistant Professor of Theory + History of Art + Design and Experimental Foundation Studies, including recent projects focused on the history of Market House and 19th century objects made by Providence’s Gorham Manufacturing Company. In 2021, Roberts was named the first RISD Schiller Family Assistant Professor in Race in Art and Design, where he promotes student-based inquiries of race, gender, and power at the edges of Liberal Arts studies and studio design. This series highlights the intersections of art, design, theory, social justice and research in interviewed conversations within the RISD community, its faculty and students. Written | Directed | Edited by Holly Gaboriault [MA Global Arts + Cultures '21] Original Music by Mike Delic Music Supervision by Elementary Music

Lilly E. Manycolors focuses on decolonization and cultural restoration as an interdisciplinary artist and scholar in the Global Arts & Cultures program. Awarded a Presidential Fellowship, her work explores the human condition and our relationships to Land through creation stories and indigenous mapping. Bringing forth elements of gender, transformation, trauma, and healing, she teases out the multiplicitous complexities found within one's identity. Through this work, Manycolors invites her audience to traverse vast emotional terrains and explore the depths of personhood together. This series highlights the intersections of art, design, theory, social justice and research in interviewed conversations within the RISD community, its faculty and students. Written | Directed | Edited by Holly Gaboriault [MA Global Arts + Cultures '21] Original Music by Antonio Forte, Andrew Grant + Tony Kenner

Bhen Alan incorporates elements of painting, weaving, sculpture, and performance to address issues of identity across immigration, memory of place, queerness, and ecological responsibility. Born and raised in Tuguegarao City, he fuses painting, installation, costumery, and performance to investigate the intersections of design with traditional Filipino weaving and craftsmanship. Researching traditional Filipino rituals and sourcing local materials, Alan works on the peripheries of identity, memory, sustainability, and recycling to create immersive experiences in topics ranging from immigration and trauma to celebratory affirmations. The resulting work brings visibility to the complexities of global culture and personhood. This series highlights the intersections of art, design, theory, social justice and research in interviewed conversations within the RISD community, its faculty and students. Written | Directed | Edited by Holly Gaboriault Original Music by Antonio Forte

Felipe Shibuya is a Brazilian ecologist and interdisciplinary artist who studies the phenomenon of the colors unseen to the human eye in both in the sight of hummingbirds and lab-grown bacteria. He translates his research into an art practice as a more accessible vehicle to bridging understanding science and human relationship to nature. Felipe continues his work of collaboration and communication as the Hyundai Biological Programs Fellow at the Edna W. Lawrence Nature Lab for RISD's Hyundai Collaborative Project, a multi-semester cross-discplinary partnership between Hyundai and RISD faculty and students to envision better ways to design sustainability for our planet and communities. This series highlights the intersections of art, design, theory, social justice and research in interviewed conversations within the RISD community, its faculty and students. Written | Directed | Edited by Holly Gaboriault Original Music by Skylar Batz | Antonio Forte | Tony Kenner

Providence-based interdisciplinary artist Jess Brown merges design, civic engagement, identity, and spectacle. Brown discusses her 2020 collaborative VOTE mural with The Avenue Concept, and her interventional performance for the RISD Museum of Art, This is MY House - a multi-sensorial encounter combining drumming, dance, and black representation in museum spaces. This series highlights the intersections of art, design, theory, social justice and research in interviewed conversations within the RISD community, its faculty and students. Written | Directed | Edited by Holly Gaboriault Original Music by Skylar Batz + Tony Kenner

From a lineage of Indian weavers steeped in textile traditions, Abid's material investigations situate concepts of place, displacement, and memory into the experimental weavings and jacquard. This series highlights the intersections of art, design, theory, social justice and research in interviewed conversations within the RISD community, its faculty and students. Written | Directed | Edited by Holly Gaboriault [MA Global Arts + Cultures '21] Original Music by Antonio Forte + Tony Kenner

Wei Zhang's work weaves in and around the intersections of design and craft fostering a practice within both Industrial Design and Ceramics. Fusing technology into traditional clay techniques, his pieces combine elements of furniture, sculpture, installation and experimentation. His forms are inspired from his travels, captured in his photography, from the mountains of Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, China to the interior volcanos of Iceland. In Fall 2021, Zhang will enter the Global Innovation Design (MA) at Royal College of Art in London in hopes to further his aesthetic fusions and broaden expectations of what clay can do. This series highlights the intersections of art, design, theory, social justice and research in interviewed conversations within the RISD community, its faculty and students. Written | Directed | Edited by Holly Gaboriault Original Music by Antonio Forte

Working within and on the peripheries of graphic design, art direction, filmmaking, soundtrack composition, curation, and art education, Rafael Attias activates research across disciplines. For over 25 years, his academic and artistic practice explores the deeper dimensions of media + arts along with the intersections of sound, science and design. As a RISD alumni with a BFA GD '91, Attias has taught throughout the departments of Illustration, Graphic Design, and Digital Media. Lately his explorations have veered into narrative film and soundtracking, ecological thinking, as well as designing and building musical instruments. In Spring 2021, he will explore ecological design with RISD students as a faculty lead for a new partnership initiative with the RISD-Hyundai Research Collaborative titled Adaptive Ecologies: Envisioning Futures. This series highlights the intersections of art, design, theory, social justice and research in interviewed conversations within the RISD community, its faculty and students. Written | Directed | Edited by Holly Gaboriault [MA Global Arts + Cultures '21] Original Music by Rafael Attias

Costume & Textiles Department curators Kate Irvin and Laurie Brewer join Industrial Design Senior critic Matthew Bird ID'81 to discuss the Museum's current Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Fellowship. The two-year appointments are designed to engage faculty members from across disciplines in research, teaching, and public engagement within a curatorial department of the Museum’s collection. In 2020, the RISD Museum was awarded a CARES grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to access, photograph and restore 900 costumes and objects in the Lucy Truman Aldrich Collection of Asian Art Masterworks. Bird speaks about his research methods during pandemic times and the items he has rediscovered through the lens of the Fellowship. This series highlights the intersections of art, design, theory, social justice and research in interviewed conversations within the RISD community, its faculty and students. Written | Directed | Edited by Holly Gaboriault [MA Global Arts + Cultures '21] Original Music by Tony Kenner Music performances by Reed McLaren and Johnny Merrinick \ Mastered by Skylar Batz

RISD Research Perspectives features the Nancy Prophet Fellow, Tayana Fincher, and the curation of her 2020 exhibition: It Comes in Many Forms at the RISD Museum of Art. This series highlights the intersections of art, design, theory, social justice and research in interviewed conversations within the RISD community, its faculty and students. Interviews and videos created by Holly Gaboriault, MA Global Arts + Cultures '21.