Alienation

Alienation, Artist  Naikos N

It has been a heavy few days, which have felt like weeks. I've been in the deep throes of Tony Fry's Design as Politics and have a clearer understanding of the mechanics of what is essentially a defuturing Capitalist Democracy we live in, one dominated by consumer demands as "... the result of incremental designed action and thinking without vision or critical reflection over a period of time".

Along with the reading, the Easter holidays have involved spending time with siblings and extended family. They are examples of the hard working, aspirant middle-class families Fry talks about, who have been conditionally inscribed to 'being-in-the-world', technocentrics fused to their smartphones.

The subject of when our children should start walking to school without guardianship comes up. I'm all for my daughter's independence and feel she's ready at the start of Year 6. "No, no!", one of my elder sister's said. "You don't know who could jump out of a van and grab her!" I'm saddened by this. We are all crippled by the fear of losing a loved one. It is one of the 'human' commonalities regardless of race or religion. Yet we see more acts of terrorism and wars where we destroy each other, our 'animality' re-surfaced. The more devastation and inconceivable acts we see in the newspapers and on TV, the more we fear. Most feel helpless or worse, are blindly led. Whilst our generation played outdoors, climbed trees, where bruises and bumps were normality, our own children spend most of their leisure time indoors, in the safety of their home.

The holidays also involved visiting a friend in the poisons unit at hospital. He and the girl across from him were sharing reasons why they were there. She is a student in the final year of her degree. The heavy pressure of doing well, holding a good job, getting on the property ladder at some point whilst heavily in student debt, got her to that unit. It's not the first time I've heard students say it. The ideals of our generation, and those before us, are passed down to our children but it is based in a current system where those ideals seem further away or impossible.

I recount the student's story to my sisters, in the hope that they will 'wake up'. "Deep thinkers" they label her as, and shake their heads sadly.

My post's intent is not to be depressing but to be pressing. We are already in crisis! As Fry says, although there are movements acting for 'making time', there needs to be more. There needs to be more deep thinkers and designers are best tasked to do this. But how can I take the momentous task of redirecting change when I fail to redirect my family's way of 'being' or 'thinking'. The answer is, I can't. I never was able to. People need to change themselves, and in order for people to change, they need to see the problem in the first place - a hard task when part of the problem is themselves.

However, I believe that people are intrinsically good; we are connected by love and nurture. If we are able to think relationally, by tapping into those commonalities, yet respect our differences at the same time, people have the power to cause dramatic, positive changes as we have seen historically with the Sufragettes and the abolition of Apartheid, to name just a few.

My intention is to place a seed of thought, a piece of critical design for the user, and seeing what grows from it, beautiful or otherwise.