Description

Sue Anne Ware, Head of School and Dean of Built Environment, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle, Australia

Professor Sue Anne Ware’s design research practice explores physical catalysts for social and political change or more simply, design activism. She aims to incite action by using counter-narratives to an unsustainable status quo. Ware is a co-founder of out(fit), an all-female collective of design practitioners and student volunteers who work in marginalized and disadvantaged communities. Out(fit) provides design and build services for women’s domestic violence refuges, underfunded schools for students with special needs, and Indigenous Community Centres. She believes that landscape architects share responsibility for exploring political, social and environmental agendas in public spaces.

Ware's projects reflect her commitment to society's marginalized communities and an exploration of issues such as drug addiction, 'illegal' refugee policies and domestic violence. She creates spaces that generate friction, where protests are permitted and possible, where attention is drawn to some of society's most pervasive issues, and passers-by may discover insight into what Ware hopes is a more humanitarian and compassionate approach. Her design projects have won national and international awards; including Power Plants, Germinate, Honeysuckle Placemaking, St Andrews Bushfire Memorial, The SIEV X memorial, the Road as Shrine, and the Anti-Memorial to Heroin Overdose Victims.

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