Lauren Williams

 Lauren Williams (she/her, b. 1988) is a Detroit-based designer, researcher, and educator who works with visual and interactive media to understand, critique, and reimagine the ways social and economic systems distribute and exercise power.
Her work has been exhibited at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery in Seattle, WA (2022), Red Bull Arts in Detroit, MI (2021), ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, CA (2019). She has been a resident artist at the Detroit Justice Center (2021) and the Jacob Lawrence Legacy Residency program at the University of Washington (2022). Recently, her work has been published in Shifter Magazine (2021), The Black Experience in Design (2022), Futuress (2021), Becoming Undisciplined (2019), and the Design and Culture journal (2019). ​

Virtual Artist Talk with Lauren on June 9th, at noon. Streamed on Wa Na Wari’s Facebook and YouTube pages.

Since 2021, she’s been freelancing: bringing books to life, supporting program design, and designing and facilitating popular education workshops. She has taught design, research and interdisciplinary studios and intensives at the College for Creative Studies, ArtCenter College of Design, CalArts, and elsewhere. Before wading into the worlds of art and design, she managed programs, policy, and research aimed at cultivating economic justice at Prosperity Now in Washington, DC. Lauren holds an MFA from ArtCenter College of Design and a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She gardens and serves on the board at Feedom Freedom Gardens on Detroit’s Eastside. Going forward, she's focused on finding ways to align her capacities with revolutionary movements that build toward different socioeconomic systems entirely and usher in new dimensions of power and freedom altogether.