I am a multidisciplinary artist based on Indigenous lands surrounded by the US (see related links below to learn more). I received my BFA in Furniture Design from Rhode Island School of Design in 2015 and my B.Sc in Environmental Science from Brown University in 2015. I’m currently a second-year Master’s in Landscape Architecture candidate at Harvard University GSD.
In my creative processes, I center preservation, agency, and decolonization. I focus on how individual and community culture, environmental systems, and our relations between each other and our natures can inform a socially just present and future. I work to capture these connections in my designs and artistic abstraction of forms, employing additional mediums such as textiles to do so. Through a constant process of unlearning, I investigate what it means to establish justice and equity in the spaces we occupy, particularly in Black, Brown, or low-income communities. Throughout my creative work, I employ ways to reshape our existences and environments, expressing them through diverse landscape designs and material explorations.
Contact Information:
doramugerwa@gmail.com
I am currently on the homelands of the Narragansett and Wampanoag peoples (today predominantly called Providence, Rhode Island). Please see links below to learn more about these Indigenous communities and their initiatives.
The Tomaquag Museum
Pursuit of Happiness: Environmental Justice & Indigenous Rights Student Short Film Series
A Guide to Land Acknowledgement by Lorén Spears
These lands also have a significant history in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, where Rhode Island had the highest number of enslaved people in New England. Please see link below to begin your learning:
Slavery Persisted in New England Until the 19th Century
Past Exhibitions:
Kindred: Curated by Tia Blassingame and Kelly Walters
(RISD Gelman Gallery, December 5th, 2014-February 1st, 2015)
Investigating the Lab:
Research and Experiments within Studio Exhibition
(Waterman Building, on RISD Campus, January 31-February 2, 2014)
FULL: The 5th Annual Brown-RISD Dual Degree Exhibition
(Granoff Center for the Arts, January 18-February 13, 2013)
Anisotropy: The Third Annual Brown RISD Dual Degree Show
(Brown/RISD Hillel Gallery, February 3-March 18, 2011)