.design is proud to sponsor author Jessica Helfand’s keynote “An Unreliable Narrator: Rethinking Authorship, Reclaiming Agency” at RGD’s DesignReThinker’s conference! The talk is at 8:30 AM Pacific Time on Wednesday, November 10, 2021. Click here to register for the conference.
Jessica grew up in Paris and New York City and received both her BA and MFA from Yale University, where she taught for more than two decades.
A founding editor of Design Observer, she is the author of numerous books on visual and cultural criticism. Her most recent book, Self-Reliance is a typographic reflection on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s classic text, accompanied by a series of essays on studio practice.
When Ralph Waldo Emerson published his most famous essay, “Self Reliance,” in 1841, it was in the aftermath of the calamitous financial collapse of 1837. His positive vision for the power of individualism and personal responsibility was issued in a climate filled with panic and uncertainty, and at a time, much like today, when the values of society and humanity were in the process of being reformed.
In her new book, Jessica considers Emerson’s ideas in the context of studio practice. What does it mean to be generative? How do you introduce—and sustain—a dialogue with your work? And how does close observation lead to deeper discovery, greater humility, and broader perspective?
In Jessica’s talk, she will share current examples from her own studio practice, helping us interrogate our assumptions about our work, ourselves, and each other.
Click here to view the entire lineup of amazing speakers at DesignReThinkers!