Kirin J. Makker is Associate Professor of American Studies at Hobart William Smith Colleges. Trained as an architect, educated as a scholar in critical space theory, and an artist at heart, Makker works to bridge not only disciplines but their methods of producing knowledge. At her institution, she teaches courses on storytelling, power and space, using drawing, sewing and performance art to investigate complex scholarly questions in real time and space. Her research on these topics takes several forms, including regular work on an ongoing participatory art projects, exhibiting her artwork in juried shows, and producing scholarly writing on women’s and black history in design and urban planning. To see what she’s working on and what her students are making, follow her Instagram @kirinmakker
The Womb Chair Speaks draws partially on her personal history with the pelvic inflammatory disease endometriosis. Makker originally conceived of the Womb Chair Speaks project and is its primary point person.
Abigail M. Frederick is the design editor for the Seneca Review and publicity assistant for author Sejal Shah. She has worked as an intern for Ploughshares and studied urbanism in Berlin, Germany. She recently graduated with degrees in architectural studies and English from Hobart and William Smith colleges. She reads as a volunteer for The Common and her writing has appeared in the New Delta Review and The Common.
E. Ainsley Rhodes is a spatially-oriented thinker and observer who is currently exploring the field of landscape architecture. She works as a marketing coordinator and designer at Landscape Architecture Bureau (LAB), a Washington, DC-based landscape architecture firm that specializes in solving design problems in highly urbanized contexts. She prefers looking at spatial design through an interdisciplinary lens, informed by her studies in architectural design, studio art, environmental studies, and sociology throughout her time at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
