Latifa Powell is a creative thinker, communicator and maker. With a strong focus on social action, she seeks to respond to topical issues through outcomes that are beautiful both in design and in sentiment.
Lunch Break – an intervention aiming to present an alternative to the austere gallery experience.
The project exists to *break* the rules of the art space by inviting visitors to sit and eat amongst the art; promoting social interaction and critical review of the gallery paradigm. Typographic floor cushions system acts as both the project identity, as well as a comfortable modular picnic blanket that can form to any exhibition space. Visitors are encouraged to select and place their cushion as they wish to offer a unique opportunity for control over the gallery space.
Swings and Roundabouts: How Can Past Paradigms Be Refurbished to Suggest a Better Future for Urban Play? – my dissertation published as a 54 page coil-bound book, featuring images including some of my own documentation of contemporary playgrounds on 35mm film.
With playful elements throughout, the design pays homage to the colours and forms of the playground.
Soft Data – an exploration into our unconscious data creation, drawing comparisons between digital and textile outputs.
Even as we sleep, the time at which we are perceived to be at our most ‘switched off’, our devices continue to create, store and share data. Despite Apple’s efforts to convince us that this data is somewhere up in the clouds; the reality sees our digital outputs being stored and transported by hugely physical means. Soft Data is an installation piece which sees our phone’s overnight activity being knitted over an 8 hour period, highlighting the unconscious creation that occurs even during our moments of rest. The resulting textile piece is a detailed manifestation of this activity, existing to remind us that digital data has tangible weight and consequence.
