rosie murphy:
Architectural Designer | Educator | Facilitator
(2021)
What is the potential of conversation as a process to address structural racism within environmental activist groups in architecture?
"Not just any talk is conversation Not any talk raises consciousness
Good conversation has an edge
It opens your eyes to something
It quickens your ears and
Good conversation reverberates
It keeps on talking in your mind later in the day;
The next day, you find yourself
Still conversing with what was said
The reverberation afterward
Is the very raising of consciousness
Your mind and heart have been moved
You are at another level with your reflections."
-James Hillman
Unlike people, structures seem poorly equipped to handle conversation. One voice controls the narrative of structures and it's an old voice. A voice as cold as stone and as fixed as stone too. The voice doesn't seem to be connected to any one person, rather, it is an echo of hundres and feels like half of them are dead. This makes it hard to answer back and engage with: echoes don't have ears and, once the soft cartilage has eroded, neither do skeletons. Despite this, there are always people willing to try and create new discourse with structure. Members of contemporary activist groups willing to put time and effort to throw their voices together, trying to engage structures in conversation. However, these groups are not immune from the same old problesm that continue to echo across society. One voice takes over. It does not speak for everyone and so, inevitably it fells, someone is at the edge of conversation.