A paper model created as a result of using the process described in the book: Doing [Design] from My [Fragmented Black] Body
Image Credit: Myriam Diatta

(2025) Top row: Sean Yuxiang Li, Marea Lazzara Vigesaa;
Bottom row: Maipelo Gabang, Kate Ruck
Image Credit: Myriam Diatta

Image (2021): Selection of 9 paper models created as a result of using the process described in the book: Doing [Design] from My [Fragmented Black] Body
Image Credit: Myriam Diatta

REVIEWS

Deeply felt and dazzling.

—Jamer Hunt
Professor of Transdisciplinary Design,
Parsons School of Design | The New School

A grounded, generous, and clear-eyed companion built for the studio, the classroom, and the long work of becoming.

—Stephanie Dinkins
Artist; Kusama Chair in Art, Stony Brook University;
Founder, Future Histories Studio

This book gives us a guide for learning to love writing as an embodied, politicised practice.

—Stacy Holman Jones
Co-Editor of the Handbook of Autoethnography,
Professor of Theatre and Performance at Monash University

Bridging the dichotomy of inner and outer, the approach laid out in this book is for your living practice.

In the context of our socio-political realities, the approach in this book fosters what is interior — what is private, inward, fragmented, and illegible. How do we check ourselves, make tangible what we value in theory, and become sharper as socio-political agents?

The book functions in three interlocking ways: The framework equips you with language to talk about and assert your footing with practice and theory. The demonstration reveals a repeatable four-step process and models ways of working with theory. The guide provides a sequence of hands-on prompts to attend to the inner workings of your own practice.

In practice, the book is subversive to conventional disciplinary research and institutional pedagogy while simultaneously modeling and contributing to practice-led research. Building on design research, Black critical thought, and autoethnography, the approach in this book was developed over a decade in design studios, classrooms, and a research lab.

AUTHOR

Dr. Myriam Diatta is a designer and independent scholar. Her practice focuses on the interiority at the intersection of politically engaged work and creative knowledge production. Myriam is Black-Asian, Japanese-Diola, with a political and creative foundation nurtured in New York City. She is currently based in Aarhus, Denmark.

Her work spans design practice, teaching, facilitation, consulting, mentoring, and professional and academic research across sectors and fields. Myriam’s practice has been recognized in North America, Europe, and Australia through grants, scholarships, and memberships, including NEW INC at the New Museum, Wonderlab at Monash Art, Design and Architecture, and the Nordic Culture Fund. She has taught at Parsons School of Design and in the Master of Industrial Design program at Pratt Institute. She holds a doctorate in Design Research from Monash University, Melbourne, an MFA in Transdisciplinary Design from The New School, New York City, and a BFA in Interior Design with minor credits in Industrial and Interaction Design from Syracuse University. myriamdiatta.com

CREDITS

PublisherSet Margins’
Graphic designToni Wagner, Myriam Diatta

ProofreaderDoug Lebsack

Special thanksAysha Amin, Zakiya Collier, Piniel Demisse, Linda Dounia, Rain Embuscado, Maipelo Gabang, Yasmin Ibrahim, Jelsen Lee Innocent, Baseera Khan, Heesoo Kwon, Sean Yuxiang Li, Fei Liu, Kate Ruck, Marea Lazzara Vigesaa, and AK Wane.

Made possible thanks toNordic Culture Fund, Freek Lomme
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Doing Creative Workfrom Your Political Body

A Process and Guide for Practice-led Researchby Myriam D. Diatta

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Doing Creative Work
from Your Political Body

A Process and Guide for Practice-led Research
by Myriam D. Diatta