Meet Iris Luo | Design Researcher & Storyteller

We had the good fortune of connecting with Iris Luo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Iris, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Firstly I want to disclaim I haven’t started a “successful” business yet. I see myself as a design researcher and an artistic practitioner currently. Why I choose to stay in the academic institution is a strategic choice because of the hegemonic paradigm in the art and creativity industry. I prioritize the process of creativity over the final products in the so-called market. But as both an arts manager and artistic practitioner, I witnessed how hard it is for a younger generation of the creator who wants to build their career.

I am using my research to prepare for my business. I plan to create an ethical fashion brand to “introduce” indigenous knowledge to worldwide customers.

My thought behind it originated from a very simple and naive idea. I want to preserve the beautiful weaving and traditional patterns from rural China and Guatemala, where I conduct my research. Then it goes deeper and more complicated. I figured out the fading cultural identities of the indigenous people around the world related to the colonial context, the greater division between humans and nature. The huge questions embed at the ontological level.

How can we understand different worldviews besides the ones that we live in? This question responds to many years of conflicts in human society and our extraction of nature.

I list the questions that I have thought about for many years. They can be both big and small. I am researching them and want to guide them to action for social justice and transformational and collective design practices.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I always see art as a process over than a product. I believe art is a beautiful medium to gather people, conduct social movements, and form a better civic society.

So for me, I use art as a medium to connect with people. I practice community-based art, expressive art workshops (such as drawing and contact improvisation), ceremonies, and so on.

I studied theatre at the very beginning of my career. And I fell in love with applied theatre and theatre of the oppressed. The core idea is to use theatre to open up a safe space for people to have conversations and debates. This kind of theatrical practice differs from conventional theater productions in the United States. So I find myself working together with educators, social workers, and psychologists.

And in the future, as I continue my career as a researcher, designer, and educator, I will keep using art as an intervention to motivate people to express and explore themselves.

I believe art and creativity belong to everyone, not just those who have the privilege to have the opportunity to have an “art education.”

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Back to nature. Somewhere is quiet and doesn’t have many people. We may write, talk and play with instruments together. Go to forage some vegetables and cook together. Dance together. Somewhere we look at midnight, there are tons of shiny stars. Being surrounded by people we love, and live in peace, be in the moment is the best version of fun and pleasure.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
YES, I was always missed on my journey of exploring who I am because my works are hard to define and multi-disciplinary. Until I found that there were other social justice-focused researchers, it made me not alone.

I want to highlight the following:
Arturo Escobar and his books, theories related to “pluriversal politics” and design

I want to thank the design researcher Renata Leitao and Lesley-Ann Noel and the design group they co-founded:
Pluriversal Design SIG: https://www.designresearchsociety.org/cpages/sig-pluriversal-design

and I want to thank the academic institution that I am in right now: OSUN’s Center for Human Rights and the Arts:
https://chra.bard.edu

Instagram: iris_lynn0104

Facebook: Iris Luo or (Yiqun Luo)