SARA DUELL – DESIGN & WRITING

I works at the intersection of art and design, researching the possibility of societal transformation through pleasure. Working within a feminist, queer framework, I uses craft and typography to toy with limiting binaries that inform normative discourse to create transformative and delightful spaces. 

Recently I launched the third issue of WMN, a lesbian art and poetry zine with Jeanette Spicer and Florencia Alvarado (the publication was awarded the 2021 Queens Art Fund grant);  published an article on Eye on Design on how designers can address power inequity together with Grace Han; and started teaching Communication Design Graduate students at Pratt Insitute.  Currently, I am pushing ideas of what we recognize as good and useful in a series called “Over the Rainbow.” Where I explore the saturated use of the pride flag, through the work, I look at color and decoration as historical tools for othering and flags and flagging as historical tools for unification.

SELECTED WRITINGS

“How Can Designers Address Power Inequity? Start Small and Focus on the Local: A look at the community-oriented practices of Bastion Agency, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Nat Pyper, and Suzy Chan”AIGA Eye On Design. March 8, 2021

“Black Lesbian Archives: An interview with Krü Maekdo” WMN. Sept 20, 2020

“Design feminista como método, não como estética” Revista Zum (the semi-annual photography magazine by the Moreira Salles Institute in Brazil). Translated by Daniele Queiroz. Sept 18, 2020

“Lesbian Invisibility in Art History: An interview with art historian Ksenia M. Soboleva” WMN. Aug 2, 2020 

“Design Spotlight: Feminist Design as a Method, Not Aesthetics” Photobook Review #017, Fall 2019

“Women’s March on Washington: strong in number, but how about design?” Design Observer. March 8, 2017