BODIES OF EMPATHY
A DATA DRIVEN APPROACH TO DESIGN
MUFARO MUKOKI
Project Description
Data can be too complex to understand. Not only can figures be overwhelming to consume, but pie charts and bar graphs can be so boring. By mapping data into the physical form of garments, “Bodies of Empathy” attempts to “humanize” data by bringing it back to the physical world and making it relatable to the people from whom it has been collected. Levering on the power of embodied experiences to connect data to real bodies, the data-based garments are aimed at enhancing empathy in wearers to improve emotional connectedness.
Through garments, we can draw on and make relational comparisons to our experiences as living clothed bodies. The physicality of garments extends data communications into embodied, material and performative experiences. These alternative encodings engage different body senses which elicit different ways of interacting with data. To understand what is being communicated, we are forced to slow down, taking time to feel, touch, smell... The value of such experiences is not in communicating data accurately, but in giving an overall sense of it.
This collection represents a series of design explorations and iterations that have led to the mapping of "heartbeats" to African Immigrant datasets onto garments.
BIO
Mufaro is a Zimbabwean-born fashion designer with several years of experience in womenswear and fashion education. Her designs embody the complex identities we construct through our histories and lived experiences. Currently pursuing her master's degree in Digital Futures at OCAD University, she uncovers the many ways in which technology transforms fashion. In an effort to make data more relatable to the humans from whom it has been collected, her thesis explores how data can be mapped onto garments and wearable technology to enhance empathy towards African immigrant experiences.