I am so sorry
Meaghan Dee
Tags
Geographic location
United States
Year
2022
Description
Caretaking, parenting, and pregnancy (and the unexpected complications of each) have a tremendous impact on design educators — but most discussion of these issues still happens behind closed doors, because we have yet to create the space necessary for it to happen in the open. Sometimes these things are kept private by choice, but often they remain cloaked by a broad range of pressures and forces that are both overt and subtle. My central aim with this artist book was to personalize and normalize these topics and to help create a caring space for what happens with and to our bodies. Between 10 and 15 percent of known pregnancies end in miscarriage, and that estimate is as high as 31 to 50 percent when including unknown pregnancies. Having experienced a miscarriage, I can offer a first-hand account about how it takes both a physical and mental toll. In my case, I had a “missed miscarriage,” which occurs when “the embryo has died but your body hasn't expelled it yet.” As such, I opted for surgical procedure known as a dilation and curettage (D&C), which involves removing the tissue from your uterus. I feel fortunate to live in a state in the U.S. (Virginia) that allowed me to have access to such medical treatment, because some American states’ abortion restrictions now reduce access to medications and procedures that have been designed to help a person physically pass their miscarriage.
Biography
Meaghan A. Dee is an Associate Professor and Chair of Graphic Design at Virginia Tech, where she also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Creativity, Arts, and Technology. Her work centers on connecting communities through storytelling and immersive design experiences and by fostering collaboration between students, faculty, and industry professionals. Meaghan sees design as a tool for engagement, communication, and innovation. In addition to her role at Virginia Tech, Meaghan is a docent emeritus for the Letterform Archive in San Francisco and served as co-chair for the AIGA Design Educators Community (AIGA DEC) Executive Board—a group dedicated to supporting and connecting design educators across the world. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Communication Design from Virginia Commonwealth University. Before her academic career, Meaghan worked professionally as a designer at Marnell Companies, an Architecture and Design firm, where she collaborated with architects, interior designers, and industrial designers on large-scale resort projects. Her expertise includes typography, branding, systems design, user-experience design, and immersive experiences. In the classroom, Meaghan encourages the exploration of diverse materials and methodologies, from motion design to augmented reality, all while emphasizing the importance of core design values and a human-centered, process-driven approach.