Design Lecture: Silas Munro

Image Courtesy of the Artist

“Bearing Witness: A Designer’s Struggle For Integrity”

This lecture is presented as part of the Spring 2021 Design Lecture Series, free and open to all.

In the fall of 1962, James Baldwin gave a lecture at Community Church in New York City entitled “The Artist’s Struggle for Integrity.” The speech was later broadcast via Radio on WBAI. In the talk, Baldwin grapples with defining terms like “artist” or “integrity.” He concludes that an artist or designer must confront the dilemma that they are “bearing witness helplessly to something which everybody knows, and nobody wants to face.” Munro will explore how his mutable practice as a designer, educator, writer, researcher, historian, poet, surfer, and activist has attempted to create a form of integrity in the face of racism, homophobia, classism, stigma, and other forms of exclusion. This attempt at integration is reflected in his lived experience as a queer biracial man and the experiences of his clients and students. Munro is particularly interested in the often unaddressed post-colonial relationship between design and marginalized communities. His practice sheds light, opens up space, and speculates on new futures for more inclusive design disciplines.