Create.Connect.Amplify. presents stories of urgent and creative problem-solving, creates a place to talk about how designers’ and design's rigorous research and dedication to efficacy can address pressing problems of our current world, and shares inspiring stories of design's power to achieve radical and far-reaching change.
In this interdisciplinary series, you will meet German and Washington, DC-based creatives monthly whose work is making an impact (some global) across design, media, disability, and much more. Sign up to hear their origin story, learn what inspires them and how connections have and continue to shape their careers.
Presenting Design as a powerful tool of change, this series – brought to you by Goethe-Institut, curated by Dian Holton, a multifaceted creative who once resided in Berlin and a current Washington, DC resident – features a disparate collection of 'design practitioners.' We showcase creatives and projectes to inspire designers, activists, community leaders as well as anyone else looking to address social problems, especially in places where design has been traditionally unavailable or inaccessible.
Join us in-person on Friday, March 25, 9-10am, to listen to Cheriss May, a portrait and editorial photographer whose advocacy for inclusive storytelling takes her on speaking engagements around the world.
COVID-19 Admission Policy for Goethe-Institut Washington: as of March 1, 2022, the Goethe-Institut Washington requires that all guests be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Negative tests or exemptions in lieu of vaccine proof will not be accepted. Please present proof of vaccination and valid government-issued photo ID at the door; mask-wearing will be enforced full-time within the building.
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DIAN HOLTON
Dian Holton is a senior deputy art director at AARP where she oversees creative for TheGirlfriend.com, Sistersletter.com, and The Ethel. She routinely contributes designs to AARP The Magazine and specifically cover stories. Her background includes book design, branding, retail installation, styling and footwear design.
Dian is a former AIGA Washington, DC chapter board member and is serving as a mentor for several mentorship programs. Her passions include education, philanthropy, fashion, and pop culture.
CHERISS MAY
Cheriss May is a lauded portrait and editorial photographer, and adjunct professor at Howard University. She’s published in
The New York Times,
O Magazine, on The White House website, the Today Show, and other publications. Cheriss has an exhibition, "
Cheriss May Soul Connection", showing across the country, and her work is featured in a permanent exhibit, “
In Conversation: Visual Meditations on Black Masculinity”, at the African American Museum in Philadelphia.
Through her work documenting the ceremonial Presidential vote count at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, Cheriss was inside during the insurrection. Although traumatic, she continued to work while barricaded in Congressman Jim Clyburn’s office with his staff. Cheriss finds strength through telling the powerful stories of people who are passionate in what they do, resilient, in the face of challenges.
Cheriss is an advocate for inclusive storytelling and is often commissioned to speak to organizations around the world, including Spotify, Adobe, Leica, the Center for Creative Photography, and the International Center of Photography.
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